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 #84 | 23 wins & 13 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	...	Self - 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:

dyslexia | against the odds | papadum | man's best friend | short haired woman | 

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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

Did You Know?

Trivia

The opening scene of Ishaan collecting fish outside his school was shot on location and at Film City. Shots focusing on Ishaan took place at the former, while those involving the gutter terrarium were filmed at a water tank at the latter. The tank's water often became murky because the mud would rise to the top, forcing production to constantly empty and refill it. Due to this hindrance, the scene took eight hours to film.

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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

The opening credits rolls after few minutes of the film and consists of animated sequences (in order to portray the main character's imaginary world).

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Connections

Referenced in 3 Idiots (2009)

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Soundtracks

Ishaan's Theme

• Instrumental

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

User Reviews

'My child always comes first in class', this syndrome has truly ruined everything.

The film brings to light what it is truly like to be dyslexic. Aamir Khan succeeded in creating the awareness about dyslexia thru this film. Sometimes we really need to step into the shoes of kids and see the world thru their point of view. The irony is that we all were kids, we all went thru the pressure of performing in sports n studies but yet we push our kids, especially in India n China.

The child actor is amazing, Aamir stole the show, the music is great, the pacing is very good n the film's script is one of the best to come out from Bollywood.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi

Release Date:

21 December 2007 (India)

Also Known As:

Taare Zameen Par

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