Aamir Khan announced a new project, ‘Sitaare Zameen Par,’ last year, and if reports are to be believed, it will centre around Down syndrome. Khan’s 2007 directorial debut, the emotional drama 'Taare Zameen Par', emerged a critical and commercial success, striking a chord with the audience as it touched upon the lesser-known condition of dyslexia.
Khan played a teacher who helps the lead character, Darsheel Safary’s Ishaan Awasthi, with his dyslexia. A source close to the development was quoted in a media report as saying, “Just like TZP, Aamir Khan wanted to bring focus on another condition that gets stigmatised in our society through Sitaare Zameen Par. That’s when he found a heartfelt story that sheds light on Down Syndrome and what people dealing with that go through. He wants to handle the subject very sensitively and create an impact that makes people suffering from the syndrome be treated as equals.”
The source added that other details about the film are under wraps for now. It is yet to be revealed if Khan would make his directorial comeback with the film or just produce it. Earlier, in an interview with News18, Khan had said, “With Sitaare Zameen Par, we are moving 10 steps ahead with the same theme. TZP was an emotional film. This film will make you laugh. That film made you cry, this one will entertain you. The theme is the same. That’s why we kept this name very thoughtfully.”
He’d added, “We all have flaws, we all have weaknesses, but we all also have something special, so we are taking forward this theme”. He added that in TZP, his character helped the special child Ishaan but “in SZP, nine boys, who have their own issues, help me. It’s the opposite.”
For the unversed, Down Syndrome is a genetic disorder caused when abnormal cell division results in extra genetic material from chromosome 21. It causes developmental and intellectual delays. Interestingly, the school that Khan’s character visited as a teacher in TZP was for kids with special needs like Down Syndrome. We reached out to Khan and his team for a comment but they were unavailable for the same.