Himesh Mankad (MUMBAI MIRROR; May 16, 2019)

The 2007 drama Taare Zameen Par, which tackled dyslexia through the struggles of an eight-year-old boy, Ishaan Awasthi (played by Darsheel Safari), is all set to get a Chinese remake. The film marked Aamir Khan’s debut as a director and also had him playing Ishaan’s art teacher, Ram Shankar Nikumbh.

In 2010, when China was not a big market for the Hindi film industry industry, it was among the nine Indian films to be screened with English subtitles in the country to mark the 60th anniversary of Indo-China diplomatic ties. But according to a trade source, Taare Zameen Par has not been officially released there despite being one of the highest rated foreign films on a popular Chinese film site, Douban. A more dubious honour is that it is also among the most pirated films playing in China.

Like other Aamir Khan films, including PK, Dangal and Secret Superstar, there was an attempt to showcase a print with Mandarin subtitles.

“But China does not permit release of foreign films that are older than two years so that move was scuttled. But since the film rides on universal emotions, a collective decision of remaking it with a local star cast was taken recently,” informed the source, adding that the remake will be produced by a local banner and will be directed by Ma Duo, who has previously worked as an assistant director on the Jiang Wen classic, Let The Bullets Fly. “The project is currently in the prep stage,” the source signed off.