Taare Zameen Par controversy
Does the question about my involvement in Taare Zameen Par really matter? Aamir was on the shoot with me for 109 days and he has acknowledged I was there throughout. Now let’s leave the controversy behind,” says Amol Gupte, the creative director of the film. Amol responded supporting the speculation that Aamir took over the direction of the film from him.
“My creative inputs ended when Aamir, his wife, my wife and I saw the first edit of the film. It has been misreported that I didn’t like the edited version of TZP. There was no question of not liking the edited version because my wife Deepa was editing the material in Panchgani as we were shooting. We were all very proud of the film. Then we had a wrap-up party. And that’s when Aamir announced he was the director of the film,” he explains.
Amol says he had planned the film years ago. In fact, he wasn’t even ambitious enough to ask Aamir to act in his film. “I didn’t have the courage to ask Aamir to be cast in my film. I asked him to help me talk to Akshaye Khanna because I had seen Akhaye portray a sensitive painter in Dil Chahta Hai. But when Aamir heard that my script was about children, he said he wanted to hear the narration. That took a long time. Finally in September 2004 he heard TZP. The very next week he proposed to produce the film. Then again there was a delay as Aamir got busy with Mangal Pandey and his personal life,” he shares.
Amol says he is trying to get over the feeling of betrayal. “Let me just say, right from choosing all the kids for the parts to the final editing, I was right there onboard. I wanted to preserve the kids’ natural innocence. So I never auditioned them. I used to engage them in discussions and workshops with the camera held out of their vision by an assistant. But this has made me question myself. Where did I go wrong? I’ve enacted lines for all the actors in TZP. It hurt a lot. But I didn’t want a confrontation,” he says.
“I’ve been involved with children’s projects for many years. TZP was an extension of an ongoing affinity to children’s issues. I share a lifelong affinity to juvenile problems. Through my film I wanted to look at the students’ problems within the gurukul’s parameters,” says Amol.
Tags: aamir khan