I was very cautious and nervous about Aamir Khan’s directorial debut as his war of words with Bachchan about black escalated, I relegated dreading he would come up with an overwrought, artificial melodrama on the very sensitive subject of neurological impairment in children which is more a variation bestowed by nature as a gift rather than a disability-fort that is what dyslexia is a simple disorder masked as a abnormal perception by society but bestowing the individual with compensatory gifts, and it is a sheer delight to see Aamir bestow his entire team in a halo of light which shines like the real stars rather than the mere name of the movie itself.
 
The profoundly moving tale of 9 year old Ishaan is partly inspired by the phoenix brothers 1984 tele-movie BACKWARDS, THE RIDDLE OF DYSLEXIA, starring river and Joaquin, but this is a triumph even when the plots are somewhat similar, as Aamir describes the tumultuous world of a kid who cannot express his inability to read or write and is socially outcast as a punishment by the society including his family who consider it as a tedious and lazy dysfunctional childish streak instead of the disorder called dyslexia, the immaculate performance of the kid is phenomenal and natural as he undergoes his torture and punishment at the hands of his teachers and parents while he is unable to express his difficulty for fear of being labelled a coward.
 
But the rest of the cast including his parents and teachers all are very natural thanks to Aamir who himself plays the teacher who comes to the rescue of our little victim in this touching drama, which is only flawed by the presence of 6 good but unnecessary songs in the background which slacken its pace pre-interval but the movie makes up for this with its tremendous finale, but there is enough to involve your heart and mind in this glorious tale of a Childs misery and courage as he fights back with the help of a brilliant and humane tutor who is just the nemesis of the rest of the society.
 
This is a movie devoid of any glamour and will appeal to people who want to see a crucially sensitive issue being brought to public attention in a very sincere and noble manner by a talented team, but its neither monotonous nor tardy but rather humorous and there are quite a few laughs and lots of chuckles in its witty script which is executed with fluid camera movements by the first time director Aamir in a brilliant manner, in fact Aamir is a better director here then as an actor in my opinion as he has handled a tough subject in a profoundly meaningful way without resorting to melodrama and eliciting an award winning act from his child actor who is the palpable soul and heart of this heart breaking but optimistically humane drama which will shine like a star on the horizon of Hindi cinema .un miss able for the connoisseurs of quality cinema.