Inmates of Cheshire Home watch the screening of Taare Zameen Par during the 13th International Film Festival at Beldih Club. Picture by Bhola Prasad

Jamshedpur, March 19: Ravi (12), a special child and student of School of Hope, was misty-eyed, as he saw eight-year-old Ishaan fight with alphabets and learn to read.

This evening, the atmosphere was a tad different at Beldih Club as curtains came down on the Indian Panorama section of the 13th International Film Festival with a special screening of the recent Bolly- wood blockbuster Taare Zameen Par.

The show was held exclusively for special students of three schools — School of Hope, Asha Kiran and Cheshire Home.

Some 40 special children enjoyed a magical evening where they saw a fight, much similar to theirs.

For Ishaan, the main protagonist of Taare Zameen Par, the world is a wondrous land, which none around him seem to appreciate.

An artistic, sensitive and sentimental child, Ishaan finds pleasure in collecting tadpoles from drains, drawing imaginary shapes with clouds and filling white paper with a riot of colours.

Not interested in mundane activities of everyday life such as schools, homework and neatness, Ishaan secretly struggles with a condition called dyslexia — a struggle which his art teacher helps him to overcome.

This tale of the unlikely, little hero won plenty of admirers in today’s screening.

“Ishaan is so brave. He stayed all alone in the boarding school, away from his parents, and yet managed to win his fight,” said Anita Kumari, a student of Asha Kiran School, sympathising with Ishaan.

After the event, school authorities and parents were heard discussing Ishaan’s victory and how the film was an “eye opener” for both teachers as well as parents, who put unnecessary pressure on their kids to do well.

The movie Taare Zameen Par largely deals with the theme of “good education” — the correct method of imparting hassle-free education to children with special needs.

“After watching this film, teachers, too, should learn from the way Aamir Khan approaches classroom teaching and imbibes a special method for a special child. Children with special needs are a gifted set of people and they have every right to live life to the fullest.

“Children should be encouraged to develop their strengths than be pressurised to do something they can not,” said principal of the School of Hope Shyamala Raju, who accompanied her students for the evening show and seemed to have a blast, too.

Apart from the special children, a large number of club members, as well as residents were seen thronging the special screening.

A large turnout marked the concluding day of the Indian Panorama section.

While The Namesake was the first movie to be screened on the first day, Taare Zameen Par was the last movie.

In the film, as Ishaan finds a mentor in Aamir Khan and his character triumphs at the end, a smile widens on his face — a smile that was mirrored on the faces of many children who attended the show today.