‘Please Explain!’
Well, to decipher ‘it’s a sixer’ you have to make your way to the theatre. Lotus (Aayush Bhansali) zoned out, so did I. And if it also gives you bubbles in your head, it is exactly performing what it’s meant to. The film Sitaare Zameen Par gives your conscious mind an awareness of normalcy—a normalcy that gets disdained in our everyday hustle. The film churns out your happy hormones, right from the beginning, and as you move ahead, you gain healing with Gulshan.
Sitaare Zameen Par tells the story of a once-celebrated basketball coach, portrayed by Aamir Khan, whose life takes a downward turn after a DUI conviction. As part of his court-mandated community service, he is assigned to train a team of neurodivergent adults—an experience that at first challenges his patience and ego. However, as he begins to understand their world, his perspective is profoundly transformed. Directed by R.S. Prasanna and featuring Genelia Deshmukh in a pivotal role, the film explores themes of redemption, acceptance, and the power of human connection. Produced by Aamir Khan, Kiran Rao, Aparna Purohit, and Ravi Bhagchandka, this thoughtful adaptation of the acclaimed Spanish film Champions offers a moving portrayal of second chances and the unexpected ways in which people can change each other’s lives.
Sitaare Zameen Par remains ideological sequel to 2007’s Taare Zameen Par. Back then we saw Nikumb dealing with dyslexia, but then we saw Nikumb emerging out with empathy. In Sitaare Zameen Par, Gulshan however acts on his impulse. Gulshan walks with obstinacy, summoning a fight upon everyone. His arrogance peaks in dominating dividends. Handed with suspension as junior coach, he steps out just to get arrested due to drunken driving, and gets three months community service.
There you meet the team. Nine adults, with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Down Syndrome. They are empowered. They quest for happiness in everything that they possess. They are no less than what normalcy defines for you. You understand that what higher functionality looks like, as you meet them. They tame Gulshan. Someone who runs away from conversations, they propel Gulshan to hold tight, sit back, and be a transcriber not just for them but for life too.
Gulshan for them is the ‘gadha coach.’ A blatant comeback, after Gulshan called them ‘pagal’ during the court scene. They look at life differently. Lotus has a girlfriend who is a ‘prostitute,’ immediately tells you the societal conditioning doesn’t really fit in their contexts. We believe they are unaware, but they are awakened with hyper awareness. Speak their minds, look straight into your eyes; and you keep wondering, snaking your mind in between their verdicts and verbalisations—only to realise that things make sense, and better.
The team hits the finals. We see a lack of budget, and therefore they might have to skip the finals. There’s this one scene, where Satbir (Aroush Dutta) gets his hair combed. While his mother cares his hair, we catch him smiling. His mother questions, that what makes him so ‘happy,’ he reverts he isn’t happy, he is grieving so he is smiling.
That’s what your lesson is. You smile more, where chaos is more.
They lose the finals. And we see team Sitaare aiding the winning team to get their trophy. Pumping joy together. For them, nothing is really a loss. Everyday is a win. For them, every day on the court is a triumph: of courage, of inclusion, of growth. In their world, kindness, effort, and togetherness are the real trophies.
Question lurks on originality, yes. But it doesn’t disappoint you. Sitaare Zameen Par hits the mass (Indians), maybe not the cinephiles. I could hear the applauds in the theatre, at every winning interval in the film. So, for that, it’s a sixer. Well, it has to be.
IWMBuzz rates it 4 stars.
