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having the camera sway with the music to create a distinct style. [49] The
twilight scenes of "Maa" were a particular issue for the production crew.
Because the specific lighting only lasted ten to fifteen minutes a day, the
scenes took nearly ten evenings to film. Production at one time considered
having a child singing, but ultimately deemed it too over the top and felt it
would connect to more people if sung by an adult. Shankar initially performed
the song as a sample—they planned to replace him with another singer—but
production eventually decided that his rendition was best. [50] The trio of
Shankar Mahadevan (right), Ehsaan Noorani (middle), and Loy Mendonsa (left)
composed most of the film's music. Ishaan's truancy scene—he leaves school one
day after realizing that his mother has not signed his failed math
test—originally coincided with the song "Kholo Kholo," but Khan did not
believe it worked well for the situation. In his opinion, the accompanying
song should focus on what a child wants—to be free—and be told from the first-
person perspective instead of "Kholo Kholo " 's second person. When Khan took
over as director, he opted to use "Mera Jahan"—a song written by Gupte—and
moved "Kholo Kholo" to the art fair. Viewers of test screenings were divided
over the truancy scene. Half thoroughly enjoyed it but the rest complained
that it was too long, did not make sense, and merely showed "touristy" visuals
of Mumbai. Khan nevertheless kept the scene, because he "connected deeply"
with it and felt that it established Ishaan's world. [51] Shiamak Davar
choreographed the dance sequence of "Bum Bum Bole," and was given free rein
over its design. He had intended to use 40 students from his dance school, but
Khan did not want trained dancers. [33] Davar gave the children certain cues
and a general idea of what to do, but left the style and final product up to
them to avoid a choreographed appearance. [52] Time constraints meant that
while Khan was busy filming "Bum Bum Bole," Ram Madhvani took over as director
for "Bheja Kum". [33] [53] The latter sequence, containing a "fun-filled" song
of rhythmic dialogue, [54] allowed the audience to perceive how Ishaan sees
the world and written languages. It was intended to represent "a young boy's
worst nightmare, in terms of ... the worst thing that he can think of";
Madhvani based the visual concept on his son's fear of "creepy-crawlies" such
as cockroaches, dragonflies, and lizards. [55] Tata Elxsi 's Visual Computing
Labs made the creatures out of the English alphabet and numbers, although Khan
insisted they include the Hindi alphabet as not all the audience would be
familiar with English. [55] [56] The chalkboard writing's transformation into
a snake was included to surprise the audience and "end the song on a high
note." [55] In writing the song "Taare Zameen Par," lyricist Prasoon Joshi
followed the theme of "however much you talk about children, it's not enough."
Every line throughout the song describes children, and only one repeats: "Kho
Naa Jaaye Yeh / Taare Zameen Par" ("Let us not lose these / Little stars on
earth"). [57] The song is mostly set to the annual day performance by the
developmentally disabled children of Tulips School. Actual students from
Tulips School and Saraswati Mandir participated, and were filmed over a period
of five days. [58] The sequence originally featured numerous dance
performances, but was trimmed down when test audiences found it too long. [59]
A song accompanying the scene in which Ishaan's mother is watching home videos
of her son was also cut, and replaced with background music after test
audiences expressed their opposition to yet another song. [60] Background
music [ edit ] "It is easier when you have to create a song like "Move Your
Body" in Johnny Gaddaar . There you can add a lot of nonsense in the recording
studio. On the other hand, something like Taare Zameen Par requires melody to
hold center stage. There is a different level of energy that you have to bring
in composing for such different soundtrack as we had to be subdued yet
effective in Taare Zameen Par ." – Shankar Mahadevan [61] Timing and other
aspects are usually planned when scoring a film, but Khan chose to take a more
improvised approach. Instead of using a studio, he and the trio
Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy recorded it at Khan's home in Panchgani, to clear their
heads and not be in the mindset of the city. As they watched the film, Khan
pointed out when he wanted music to begin and of what type. Ehsaan Noorani
noted that this strategy allowed the score to have a "spontaneity to it." [62]
Different styles of background music were used to convey certain things. For
example, a guitar is played when Ishaan is tense or upset, sometimes with
discordant notes. [23] The music of the opening scene—the recurring "Ishaan's
Theme," which represents the character's peace of mind—overpowers the
background noise to show that Ishaan is lost in his own world; the noise
becomes louder after he snaps back to reality. [63] But the scene in which
Nikumbh explains dyslexia to Ishaan's family took the opposite approach.
Silent at first, the music is slowly introduced as the father begins to
understand his son's dilemma. The almost seven-minute long scene scarcely used
any background music, to slow the pace and make it seem more realistic. [64]
Promotional material [ edit ] When filming part of the montage that details
Ishaan's tutoring by Nikumbh, Khan immediately decided it would be the "key
art of the film". He noted that "this one shot tells you the entire story",
and used it for the poster. [65] Release [ edit ] Box office [ edit ] Taare
Zameen Par was released worldwide on 14 December 2007, although countries such
as Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, and Fiji opened it on 20 December. [66]
[67] It debuted in India with 425 prints, [67] [68] although revenue-sharing
issues between the film's distributors and theatre owners caused some slight
delays. [67] The movie grossed ₹ 150 million (US$3.63 million) domestically
within the first three days. [68] Its theatre occupancy in Mumbai dropped to
58 percent during its third week, but climbed back to 62 percent the following
week—this brought the total to ₹ 770 million (US$18.62 million)—after the
Maharashtra government granted the film exemption from the entertainment tax .
Anticipating further tax exemption in other states, world distributor PVR
Pictures circulated 200 more prints of the film. [69] The film completed its
domestic run with $19,779,215. [66] To reach more audiences, the film was
later dubbed in the regional languages of Tamil (Vaal Nakshatram) and Telugu .
Both were scheduled for release on 12 September 2008. [70] It grossed
$1,223,869 in the US by its seventh week, and £351,303 in the UK by its ninth
week. [71] Reports regarding the film's worldwide gross have conflicted, with
sources citing ₹ 889.7 million (US$21.52 million), [72] ₹ 984.8 million
(US$23.82 million) [3] ₹ 1.07 billion (US$25.88 million), [73] ₹ 1.31 billion
(US$31.68 million), [2] and ₹ 1.35 billion (US$32.65 million). [74] Protests
in Gujarat [ edit ] In response to Khan's support for the Narmada Bachao
Andolan and his criticism of Chief Minister Narendra Modi , [75] [76]
approximately 50 activists of the Sardar Patel Group conducted protests
outside of PVR and INOX theatres in Vadodara , Gujarat . The group also issued
statements to all the multiplexes of Gujarat, suggesting that the film not be
screened unless Khan apologised for his comments. [75] [77] The INOX cinema