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Like Stars On Earth (DVD)
Year:
Rating: G
Release Date: January 04, 2010
Distributor: Walt Disney
The Film: 4.0
The Disc: 4.0
FILMINK rates DVDs and Blu-rays out of 5Bollywood take on a serious issue reaps morally and musically sound result.
First-time director and established Indian actor Aamir Khan (recently starring in the big hit 3 Idiots) has taken on a topical project here, one which he obviously feels widespread audiences should be educated about.
The story focuses on both the external and internal world of 8 year-old Ishaan (Darsheel Safary), who struggles daily with undiagnosed dyslexia, who finds solace in his artistic imagination. After having failed Grade 3 two years in a row, Ishaan's lack of progression in reading and writing is assumed, by his family and teachers, to be due to misbehaviour and a haughty unwillingness to study.
Feeling completely abandoned after he is sent to boarding school, he descends into a depression that culminates in the cessation of all his artistic endeavours as well as any communication with the outside world. However, as silver linings dictate, it is in his new school that he comes into contact with the enthusiastic and inspiring art teacher Ram, played by Khan, who recognises that there is so much more to Ishaan, and makes it his mission to mend the young boy's broken spirit.
True to Bollywood style, this film has a dream-like fantasy flavour that is full of stylistic qualities that illustrate the world through Ishaan's eyes, such as the letters that dance on the page. Although a little long at 165 minutes, the importance of the subject matter justifies a well-developed resolution and the pulsating musical numbers also work to break up the dramatic tension.
The bonus extras include deleted scenes and a ‘Making of' featurette, but it is the Panel Discussion hosted by Khan and featuring both clinical psychologists and a paediatric neurologist that reinforces the motive of the film, which is to appreciate that children all over the world face challenges, and it is an adult's duty to not give up on them.