Overwhelming

Every once in a while we see films that mean something special to us – something special at an individual level. This year, I’ve been fortunate to come across two such films: Indian actor-director Aamir Khan’s Taare Zameen Par and Hollywood actor-director Sean Penn’s Into The Wild. These films have a personal significance for me as I have experienced some of the emotions of the two young heroes of these films.

Like 8-year-old Ishaan (played magnificently by Darsheel Safary) in Taare Zameen Par, I, too, am dyslexic and have suffered the shame of not being ‘up to the mark’ like everyone else in my class – or in my family. And, like 24-year-old Christopher (played by the talented Emile Hirsh) in Into The Wild, I, too, have cut myself off from my family and walked out of a promising life in search of the truth.

Forty years ago, no one in India knew what dyslexia was. As an 8-year-old dyslexic, I had to find my own means of coping with the world and try to make sense of what was happening. And, unlike Ishaan’s world in Taare Zameen Par where an observant and caring school teacher pieced things together, no one came to my rescue and explained to my parents what the trouble was with me.

I grew up troubled, and my later itinerant years – somewhat similar to those of troubled Christopher in Into The Wild – were (and still are) a result of my alienation from my family and a rebellion against the values they represented. Like Christopher, I, too, embarked on a journey to live life on my own terms – dropping off my ration card (India’s equivalent of social security), driver’s license and passport along the way.

However, that’s where my story differs from Christopher’s. I had the sense to realise that, although truth has a special place in my heart, it is equally important not to lose sight of two vital life forces: a livelihood and the love of friends. Christopher’s folly – or immaturity, perhaps – was to trade his college-educated level-headedness for an imaginary life.

For, Christopher’s search for the truth and his disdain for the material world eventually took away his life’s energy – the pure goodness that had driven him to embark on a journey across America to Alaska, touching various people’s lives along the way in most wonderful ways. In Into The Wild, Sean Penn chronicles Christopher’s journey over two years until its heart-achingly overwhelming end.