Underdog
stories
always
appeal
to
the
audience
if
made
well,
and
Aamir
Khan’s
presence
guarantees
that,
assures
Deepa
Gahlot.
In
the
2007
film,
Taare
Zameen
Par,
Aamir
Khan
had
shone
a
light
on
dyslexia,
which
only
the
most
well-informed
parents
or
teachers
were
aware
of.
Others
simply
called
the
child
struggling
with
learning
disabilities
‘duffer.’
Now,
he
comes
out
of
self-imposed
retirement
to
star
in
Sitaare
Zameen
Par,
which
also
questions
the
idea
of
‘normal’.
The
film
is
a
faithful
remake
of
Javier
Fesser’s
Spanish
film
Campeones
(2018),
which
was
remade
as
Champions
in
Hollywood
in
2023
by
Bobby
Farrelly.
(David
Marques
and
Fesser
are
given
writing
credits,
so
it
is
evidently
an
official
remake.)
Aamir
has
not
directed
this
one,
R
S
Prasanna
(Shubh
Mangal
Savdhan)
has
taken
on
the
task.
The
Spanish
original
was
inspired
by
the
Aderes
basketball
team
in
Burjassot
(Valencia),
made
up
of
people
with
intellectual
disabilities.
it
won
12
Spanish
championships
between
1999
and
2014.
The
film
was
Spain’s
entry
for
the
Oscars.
The
trailer
is
quite
straightforward,
giving
out
the
important
plot
points.
It
appears
to
have
got
the
comic
and
emotional
ingredients
blended
well.
The
protagonist
is
Gulshan
(Aamir),
who
gets
fired
from
his
job
as
a
basketball
coach
for
punching
a
man
on
court.
He
gets
drunk
and
rams
into
a
police
car.
Though
community
service
is
not
a
norm
in
the
Indian
legal
system,
the
judge
orders
him
to
coach
a
team
of
intellectually
challenged
teens.
He
is
outraged
and
every
time
he
refers
to
them
as
‘pagal‘,
the
judge
ups
the
fine.
He
arrives
at
the
school
for
special
needs
children,
to
find
a
bunch
of
high-spirited
teens,
who
like
every
other
youngster
their
age,
have
a
problem
with
authority.
Unlike
regular
sportspersons,
they
have
neither
the
discipline
nor
competitive
spirit
to
participate
in
tournaments,
clearly
because
nobody
showed
any
faith
in
them
before,
nor
had
the
patience
to
work
around
their
shortcomings.
Those
who
have
not
interacted
closely
with
children
like
these
cannot
know
that
they
function
in
their
own
way,
and
Gulshan
finds
out
soon
enough
how
to
cope
with
their
no-boundaries
behaviour
and
transforms
them
into
a
team.
A
girl
joins
up
too,
and
teaches
Gulshan
the
value
of
respecting
the
opponent,
when,
during
his
pep
talk,
he
says
that
they
will
take
the
pants
off
the
competing
team.
There
must
be
challenges
and
frustrations,
which
will
be
seen
in
the
film,
but
going
by
the
scenes
and
dialogue
in
the
trailer,
what
the
film
emphasises
is
that
‘normal’
is
not
a
catchall
word,
and
that
everybody’s
concept
of
normal
can
be
different,
as
the
principal
(Gurpal
Singh)
of
the
school
puts
it.
Genelia
Deshmukh
makes
an
appearance,
as
the
love
interest,
and
Dolly
Ahluwalia
his
mother,
who
refers
to
him
as
‘tingu‘
in
a
scene,
which
is
Aamir
making
fun
of
himself.
Underdog
stories
always
appeal
to
the
audience
if
made
well,
and
Aamir’s
presence
guarantees
that.
If
there
may
be
a
slight
worry
that
the
kids
are
used
to
generate
comedy,
it
is
assuaged
by
their
confidence.
The
kids
chosen
to
be
a
part
of
the
team
—
at
least
on
screen
—
do
not
look
intimidated
by
the
star.
Like
the
earlier
film,
this
one
too
bats
for
inclusivity,
and
it
is
a
worthy
cause.
