With Aamir Khan’s Sitaare Zameen Par centred on people with special needs, Urja Special School’s founder shares how the unit cast his students
Aamir Khan; (right) The Kandivali school caters to kids and adults with special needs
When watching an Aamir Khan film, you can almost always be assured of two things — sensitivity, and authenticity. That was the superstar’s objective as he set out to shoot for Sitaare Zameen Par, which sees him as a foul-tempered basketball coach who is instructed to train players with special needs. We’ve learnt that Khan and director RS Prasanna selected students from Urja Special School in Kandivali, a counselling and remedial centre that serves children and adults with special needs, to portray the players in the slice-of-life film.
Child psychologist Dr Mihir Parekh founded the school with his wife, who serves as the principal, in 2010. Recalling that the makers were looking for students aged above 18, Parekh says, “The [makers] had certain prerequisites for children and adults — they had to have Down Syndrome, with a particular height and weight. They selected 38 of my 168 students. Some essayed the role of team members, and the rest were used as audience members who have come to watch the games. The portions with my school students were all shot in Mumbai, including Andheri and Bandra.”
Adapted from the Spanish film, Campeones (2018), Sitaare Zameen Par shows how Khan’s protagonist goes from initially being skeptical of his basketball team to realising how each of them is gifted in their own way. With basketball being a key aspect of the story, Parekh says some students were selected based on their proficiency in the game. “Before the shoot began, there was a prep session with the students for a week. Their parents were also introduced to the makers,” adds Parekh. The students shot with the unit over a month, and were paid remuneration.
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