Like Stars on Earth (2007)

An eight-year-old boy is thought to be a lazy trouble-maker, until the new art teacher has the patience and compassion to discover the real problem behind his struggles in school.

Directors:

Aamir Khan, Amole Gupte (uncredited)

Writers:

Amole Gupte (dialogue & screenplay), Amole Gupte (story)

Stars:

Darsheel Safary, Aamir Khan, Tisca Chopra

Top Rated Movies #78 | 14 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Darsheel Safary	...	Ishaan Awasthi
Aamir Khan	...	Ram Shankar Nikumbh
Tisca Chopra	...	Maya Awasthi
Vipin Sharma	...	Nandkishore Awasthi
Sachet Engineer	...	Yohan Awasthi
Tanay Chheda	...	Rajan Damodaran
Lalitha Lajmi	...	Herself - Art Mela's Chief Guest
Girija Oak	...	Jabeen - Amir's Co-worker (as Girija)
Ravi Khanvilkar	...	Mr. Holkar (as Ravi Khanwelkar)
Pratima Kulkarni	...	Principal - St. Anthony's School
Meghna Malik	...	Victoria Teacher
Sonali Sachdev	...	Irene Teacher
Sanjay Dadich	...	Maadhoo
Raaj Gopal Iyer	...	George Sir
Bugs Bhargava	...	Sen Sir

Storyline

Ishaan Awasthi is an eight-year-old child whose world is filled with wonders that no one else seems to appreciate; colours, fish, dogs and kites are just not important in the world of adults, who are much more interested in things like homework, marks and neatness. And Ishaan just cannot seem to get anything right in class. When he gets into far more trouble than his parents can handle, he is packed off to a boarding school to 'be disciplined'. Things are no different at his new school, and Ishaan has to contend with the added trauma of separation from his family. One day a new art teacher bursts onto the scene, Ram Shankar Nikumbh, who infects the students with joy and optimism. He breaks all the rules of 'how things are done' by asking them to think, dream and imagine, and all the children respond with enthusiasm, all except Ishaan. Nikumbh soon realizes that Ishaan is very unhappy, and he sets out to discover why. With time, patience and care, he ultimately helps Ishaan find ...

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Plot Keywords:

papadum | man's best friend | short haired woman | female masculine short hair | masculine female | 

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Taglines:

Every Child is Special

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Genres:

Drama | Family

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for thematic material, brief violence and language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi English

Release Date:

21 December 2007 (India)

Also Known As:

Like Stars on Earth

Filming Locations:

Panchgani, Maharashtra, India

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$352,568, 23 December 2007

Gross USA:

$1,223,869

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$21,897,373

Company Credits

Production Co:

Aamir Khan Productions, PVR Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

165 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

India's official submission to the Foreign-Language Film category of the 2009 Academy Awards.

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Goofs

During the scene in which Ram goes to visit Ishaan's parents, he is stopped at a bus station and sees a kid serving tea, a man with a black shirt walks behind him. The shot cuts to Ram and then back to the kid serving tea doing something different, but that same-black shirted man is walking behind him.

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Quotes

Ram Shankar Nikumbh: lf you fancy racing, breed racehorses, dammit, not children.

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Crazy Credits

A thankful message is displayed at the end before closing credits, which reads, "Thanks to all those children, parents and teachers, who shared their lives with us and opened windows for us to see clearly".

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Connections

Referenced in Nil Battey Sannata (2015)

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Soundtracks

Maa
Written by Prasoon Joshi
Composed by Shankar Mahadevan (as Shankar), Ehsaan Noorani (as Ehsaan) and Loy Mendonsa (as Loy)
Performed by Shankar Mahadevan
Courtesy of Super Cassettes Industries Limited (T-Series)

User Reviews

Oxygen to Revive the Soul

A good film on children has always been much needed for Indian film-goers. And when in this moment of dearth one gets treated to a movie that simply touches the soul - needless to say - Taare Zameen Par - does just that.

Aamir Khan proves his mettle as a director. As an actor he is fabulous. The story captures a look at a middle class family who feel the younger kid (Darsheel Safary) is not a patch on the elder one who is a topper at class. The younger one is always struggling with his ABCs and spends more time out of his class rather than inside.

Its only when he is sent to boarding school with the hope that an iron fist will help him improve that he comes across art teacher (Aamir Khan) who correctly identities his problem of suffering from dyslexia and decides to unleash his creativity and make him an achiever.

To know more one should watch this movie since it has elements that everyone could relate towards while at school or boarding, and brings into focus the need for underprivileged and slow learning children to be given the chance to prove themselves with patience and love that would help them merge with mainstream education and become worthwhile contributors.

Brilliant job Aamir and your team for treating the subject with respect, honesty and flair. Darsheel Safary as the struggling kid has done total justice to his role and puts in a performance that will always be remembered.

The movie will make you cry, make you laugh, make you rejoice and come out feeling that there are some people out there who take Indian cinema several notches higher.