According to Sophie Milan, this is the second time I watched the movie. The first time was in October of 2012. As a whole, it is very touching that my first impression upon knowing that we’ll be watching it in class was “You should ready a hanky.” The first time I watched it, I’m lucky I was in the company of a friend that it’s no big deal for me to cry and get carried away in front of her. But this time, I was with a bunch of professional students whom I barely know.
On the more technical side of the movie, I found the animations very interesting that I think would make young viewers hooked to it. It’s quite long and to maintain an audience’ interest, it really must be interesting. The absence of conversation at certain points in the story also added to the need to watch very well because the messages imparted at these points are seen through the characters actions. I liked the songs that came with this movie. The English translations are very inspiring. The title of the movie also gave justice to its theme. Truly, each child is special and that’s how this movie embarked to show us why.
There are a lot of social concerns highlighted in this movie as far as I’ve understood it. The first one is the insufficient knowledge that we have about different mental health conditions, and here, it’s about dyslexia. It is known among us professionals that it’s quite hard to detect problems among children. But dyslexia is one of the easier ones. It has prominent features that we can observe on children. As part of developmental tasks, a child of 8 like Ishaan, is expected to be able to read and write numbers and letters. Because of this insufficiency of knowledge, his parents and teachers at school hastily concluded that he’s just being naughty and lazy. It then led to further complications like Ishaan’s father always getting mad at him. There’s always a fuss at home. But more so, it led to his sadness and loss of self-confidence.
Another issue addressed is the patriarchal system. The father was always the one with say when it comes to decision-making. Of course, it’s up to the culture we all live in. Well as for me, I’d see to it that I get my right to speak and decide the best I think would be for me. Third issue was that of bullying. It was scene early on in the story when Ishaan got into a fight with their neighbour. And because Ishaan cannot clearly state his side of what happened, his father did not side with him. The consolation was the forgiveness and understanding of his mother.
I think the most important part of the story was when the art teacher, artist Aamir Khan, went into Ishaan’s family. That’s when it all became clear for them and also for us, audience, what the situation really is about. That’s the part when I also realized just how shattered any child’s confidence must be if no one could understand him and he himself could not understand why he is seeing the world in a different way. You can see the transition of Ishaan’s behavior from the beginning of the story up until the time he was left at the boarding school. He was very funny and a free spirit. He likes to catch fishes and draw. But when he started at the boarding school, he was crying more. He will not speak to anybody aside from his best friend. He was fearful and worse, he stopped drawing. The very thing that matters most to him. I could only think of how much he must be feeling lost without anyone who could understand him and reassure him that everything will be okay. Someone who could help him understand his own confusions. How could a child blossom and nurture a confidence all by himself?
These words of Aamir Khan to Ishaan’s father is full of meaning. “On the Solomon Islands, when the tribes need to clear the jungle to make way for fields, they don’t cut down the trees. They simply gather and collect around it and hurl abuses at the trees. They curse it. slowly but surely, after some days, the trees begin to wither. It dies on its own.” How can a child survive the world of competitive adults if no one would show him love, care and appreciation for who he is and what he can do? And this is how Aamir Khan related to the father that they are slowly killing Ishaan’s sense of self. Isn’t it heartbreaking? To realize that the words you utter, “I’ll take care of you” is very incongruent to your actions?
The art teacher’s character in the story is the change that we need to start doing in our own societies on how we address mental health conditions. These people are not to be outcasted. They need our understanding and help. They need our respect for they are individuals too who are here to fulfil their lives.
The parts in the story that really put me at the verge of crying were the times when Ishaan and Ram Shankar (Aamir Khan) was working together. But the best of all for me was that scene near the end when Ishaan saw that Aamir Khan made a portrait of him smiling. It was overflowing with love. And I think that’s when Ishaan also realized that he is so loved.
I think everyone can relate to the struggles portrayed in this movie. You cannot small the importance of a child protagonist. Ishaan is very lovely, you will fall for him. But aside from that, the struggles are also representations of our own no matter what form it takes. We all have a share of times in our lives when nobody seems to understand us and the decisions we make. Times when our parents try to win us over arguments we actually have a point. Times when people give up on us and leave. But no matter what, there are also the times when new people come into our lives and give us reasons that life is worth living. And that we should strive to shape ourselves in the way that we are meant to be.
Personally, I found the more general meaning of this movie to be our own struggles and triumph in finding ourselves – what makes us unique, what we do best and what measures will we take to make it last. I would recommend this to every generation starting from an eight year old. And I think the more you watched it, the more you will learn from it. Compared to the first time that I watched it, I’m able to understand more of its depth and how it reaches to some of my personal unresolved issues. Nonetheless, I am so happy to have seen it again. Though, it was a struggle to keep myself composed. At least, I made it.
