Since most you are already aware of the story, let me straight away get into the performance and other details.
Master Darsheel Safary as Ishaan Awasthi is excellent. His expressions and body language are just perfect. You will fall in love with him within a few seconds after the movie starts. His transformation from a naughty, full-of-life boy to a silent, depressed boy just touches you so much that even the stone-hearted would melt. This is a performance that not only beats every debutant’s performance this year but is way above the best of performances of 2007.
Tisca Chopra is natural to the core. It is a performance that any mother can identify with. Vipin Sharma as the father, Sachet Engineer as the brother and Tanay Cheda as the friend are perfect.
Aamir Khan, the actor, is brilliant as always. He plays a cool and sensitive art teacher to perfection. His dialogues have a strong impact. Most of his dialogues pass on a positive message. He manages doing it so beautifully and not even once goes “over-the-topâ€. Some of his dialogues and scenes are clap-worthy.
Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy-Prasoon deserves credit to make some of the most soul-stirring music heard in recent times. When you watch the songs on screen, you just fall in love with it more. The title track and “Maa†song will give you goosebumps. The background music elevates the mood of the film. Again, it’s not the typical loud and over-the-top background music that we normally hear nowadays. It is just perfect for the film. Cinematography by Setu is first-rate. It captures every moment very beautifully.
Amole Gupte’s script is beautiful and flawless. He deserves full marks for his writing. The strength of the script lies in its attention to detail and the smaller things in life. The way it takes you through a kid’s mind is a work of an accomplished writer.
Aamir Khan, the director, has arrived with a bang!!! He has directed a movie that could well be termed as one of India’s best movies. It could even do what Lagaan couldn’t. TZP could have ended up bad, if it were in wrong hands. But in Aamir’s hands, it ended up a masterpiece. The vision, the message, the performances, the dialogues, the music, the background music, the colour and the impact is so pure and uplifting. Managing to extract and mix all these elements in a movie and pacing it perfectly is no easy feat. TZP is a work of a genius. His intentions with this movie were honest. His work is pure magic yet simple. No exaggerated emotions, no melodrama, no unwanted tracks, just cinema at its best. Aamir takes you through the joys, imagination, sorrows, fears and thoughts that of the child easily, and at times you feel so engrossed that you don’t want to move a muscle so as not to move a particular emotion. Aamir Khan is in a league of his own. His mastery over the craft will leave you speechless. It is only after the end credits roll, you realize that 2 hours and 45 minutes have passed. Aamir Khan has done it yet again!
TZP makes you look at children differently. It gives the message that a child should not necessarily be high-scoring to be termed intelligent. Every child has his or her own ability that needs to be nurtured. It is the love of parents that can have major impact on the child’s development and his self-confidence. The movie makes you smile, laugh, cry, think, get nostalgic and finally look at things in a different manner. TZP isn’t preachy, it’s simple and pure. It touches your heart in a subtle manner. It can make the biggest of hunks shed tears by taking them to a trip down memory lane. You can identify with the characters so much that you feel that you are watching a reflection of your own childhood.
TZP is a modern day classic. It is India’s answer to “Life is Beautifulâ€. This movie can challenge any movie of world cinema. Aamir has defined and re-defined (and re-re-defined) the rules with which movies can be made in India. TZP easily ranks as one of the best of Hindi Cinema.
Rating: 10/10