**May contain spoilers**
Back from Sitaare Zameen Par – an okay experience. Unlike Forrest Gump, I haven’t seen the original or the Hollywood version this is based on, so I went in fresh.
The film starts off slow, and right from the beginning, it feels like it’s trying too hard to be emotional and quirky. It revolves around Gulshan (Aamir Khan), who finds himself in an unexpected situation with a group of kids – but even in the opening scenes, everything feels overly staged. The writing and execution lack finesse.
Just look at these three back-to-back scenes:
First, Genelia’s employee says he can’t keep the bus at home because his brother will just take it out and keep driving it. (It’s a bus dude, not a racing bike or car.) Next, Aamir is seen travelling with the kids in a public bus, where passengers start yelling “Yeh paagalon ki alag bus honi chahiye” which escalates into a full-blown fight, and they’re thrown off the bus. Immediately after, Aamir goes to Genelia for help and walks out with her bus and her as the driver. There’s no flow between these scenes. It all feels loud, convenient, and setup.
The humour doesn’t help either. Most of the jokes fall flat. I didn’t laugh once in the first half. There’s a joke about a kid’s girlfriend being a prostitute, and another about “grabbing balls” – both feel forced and misplaced. Some in the audience did laugh but didn’t work for me. The film would’ve worked better had it leaned more into its emotional core instead of forcing comedy.
Even the way the kids’ backgrounds are introduced is unimaginative. Rather than letting us discover them through Gulshan’s encounters, there’s just one long info-dump scene where Aamir asks Gurpal about each child, and he rattles off their backstories one by one. A better filmmaker would’ve allowed Gulshan to learn about them organically, through interactions and moments, not exposition. Even the suffering of the kids’ parents is never explored, nor are the parents ever clearly shown. It’s brushed off with a single line, something like,“’Even if it’s the last day on Earth, they’ll still come to watch the game and support their kids.’
Despite the setup, the movie isn’t really about the kids- it’s all about Gulshan’s arc. Sadly, even that doesn’t feel earned. One moment he’s selfish and aloof, and the next he’s tying kids’ shoelaces and behaving thoughtfully. There’s no real emotional journey and the transformation feels scripted. There are barely any scenes where the kids actually teach him anything, yet by the end, he tells his wife, “Yeh mere coach hain, maine inse seekha hai” It doesn’t land. The theme of the coach learning from the kids is told, not shown.
There are repeated narrative beats that make the film feel like checkbox writing. Gulshan’s unresolved issues with fatherhood are brought up again and again first in a fight with his wife, then by Gurpal, and later by Gulshan himself: “Mujhe bachhe pasand nahi kyunki mere father acche nahi the, and I don’t want to become one.” The film doesn’t trust the audience to get the point so it keeps hammering it in.
Toward the end, there’s a bizarre and unnecessary subplot where Gulshan finds out his mother is having an affair with her cook, who also lives with her. It’s clearly meant to mirror the film’s message about “acceptance,” but it feels over-the-top and adds no real value.
The sports angle – the training, the tournament, the growth is barely explored. Strangely though, that part still works and it doesn’t stand out either way. But there’s nothing rousing or inspiring in how the tournament is built up.
Then there’s the climax. First, we get a drawn-out emotional stretch where the kids can’t go to Mumbai for the finals due to a lack of funds. It drags on, and then suddenly, Gulshan comes up with a plan: his wife, dressed as a cop, raids a store where one of the kids works, accuses the owner of underpaying him, and the shopkeeper offers a bribe. Cut to the next scene — everyone’s flying to Mumbai and staying in a five-star hotel. It’s that direct. If it was this easy, why build so much melodrama around it? That entire stretch is just convenient writing.
Now, coming to the performances – Aamir Khan’s portrayal of Gulshan is one of the film’s weaker points. He overdoes the facial expressions even in quiet scenes. It’s that post-3 Idiots, PK, and LSC version of Aamir – all exaggerated emoting. He’s acting, not being the character and that constantly pulls you out of the film. This role might’ve worked for him around the Taare Zameen Par era, but now, it just feels off. Genelia is also quite weak in emotional scenes. She’s decent in casual, lighter moments, but when it comes to intensity, anger, confrontation, or emotional breakdowns, her delivery doesn’t land. Maybe she was cast to keep things breezy. Gurpal Singh, on the other hand, is very good and adds much-needed sincerity. Dolly Ahluwalia is fine, though her heavy makeup is distracting even in the simplest of scenes.
All the kids have done a very good job in their roles. Sunil, the one who always wears a helmet, has one of the most important roles with long dialogues, and he handles it really well. Guddu, the kid who loves animals and hates taking showers, has a standout scene just before the interval. He is actually South Indian in real life and didn’t know Hindi, but he learned his short dialogues specially for the film. The rest of the kids are also great and help hold the film together in many scenes.
And yet, credit where it’s due – the final 20 minutes do work. Aamir tones it down a bit, the film finds some emotional rhythm, and there’s actual feeling by the end. That final stretch lifts the overall experience and leaves the audience with a satisfying ending. It reminded me a bit of Kalki a below average film that manages to work in the final moments (but SZP is overall better).
Still, overall, Sitaare Zameen Par is average and far too predictable. The emotional arcs don’t resonate, the structure is basic, and the film’s core message – ‘sabka apna apna normal,’ or a neurotypical person learning from intellectually disabled kids is mouthed, not shown. Aamir has said in every interview that it’s the sitaare (the kids) who teaches the coach, and while that line does make it into the film, the storytelling doesn’t back it up. It’s well-intentioned and has its heart in the right place, but it often feels manufactured. Still, that’s probably enough for most of the audience to view it as ‘great, well-intentioned cinema.’
I hope I’m not being too harsh – just sharing thoughts as I remember them. Folks who are interested should definitely check it out. But no, it’s not a classic or a masterpiece in my opinion. It’s feel-good cinema, and thanks to Aamir Khan’s legacy, it’ll get more than its fair share of credit and boxoffice.
