As February rolls in, so does a familiar hush in Indian homes. Timetables appear on refrigerators, relatives begin asking “boards kab hai?”, and children in Classes 10 and 12 feel the weight of expectations settle on their shoulders. For parents, too, exam season brings its own anxieties — not just about marks, but about their child’s mental and emotional well-being.

It wasn’t always a conversation we knew how to have.

Nearly two decades ago, Taare Zameen Par entered Indian living rooms and gently disrupted how many families thought about learning, intelligence, and failure. The film didn’t offer grand solutions — it simply asked parents to pause, observe, and listen. And slowly, for some families, the language around exams began to shift.

At the heart of Taare Zameen Par was Ishaan Awasthi — a child who struggled in classrooms that measured intelligence through neat handwriting, quick calculations, and exam scores. Labelled lazy, careless, and difficult, Ishaan absorbed the quiet cruelty of repeated failure — not because he lacked effort, but because no one recognised how differently he learned.

There’s a moment in the film when Ishaan stops speaking altogether. His report cards worsen. His drawings disappear. And yet, the adults around him remain focused on only one question: What’s wrong with this child?

The film’s most powerful intervention wasn’t a miracle........

© The Better India