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‘Feels good that I was a vessel for Aamir and Amole’
Darsheel Safary recalls how he landed his role in Taare Zameen Par, which released on this day, 10 years ago
The year was 2007, and the date December 21 when the film Taare Zameen Par released to universal acclaim and a great box-office response. The then 10-year-old Darsheel Safary captured the hearts of millions with his near-perfect portrayal of a dyslexic boy, Ishaan Awasthi.
Darsheel, now a handsome 20-year-old, still remembers how he landed the film. He recalls, “I used to go to these dance classes, where the posters for the film’s auditions had been put up. When I saw that they only wanted an 11year-old, I was really upset, since I was only nine. But what I didn’t know was that the writer of the film Amole Gupte had already befriended me. I didn’t know that I was being eyed for the role.”
“One day, Amole sir told me ‘so Darsheel, you have come for the audition?’ So then I figured it out ki film ke liye hai. I didn’t know how the audition went, but for me, I thought, I had been selected the moment I had stepped into that office,” shares Darsheel.
About his first meeting with actor Aamir Khan, he says, “He was wearing a cap and shorts, and he entered the room as a normal, chilled out guy. He said ‘Hey Darsheel, what’s up?’ and I could only say ‘Hi’. We would play Uno and cricket, on the sets.” Darsheel says that he is happy with how, even 10 years later, people still call him Ishaan. “Some even tell me that their lives improved after the film came out. It feels good that I was a vessel for Aamir and Amole to show the audience and bring this story out.”