Unfilmy

I never found the IT franchise scary as such, but this one is particularly hilarious.

Pennywise's antics, the CGI and some of the dramatic pieces often border on ridiculous, making scenes that were supposed to be tense, feel unintentionally hilarious. While the show expands on Derry's lore and has moments of creativity, the constant spectacle and exaggerated performances make it impossible to take seriously as a horror series.

The movie had potential. Strong relatable premise, believable setup and a chance to explore real middle-class family dynamics. But instead of giving us a layered story, it ends up glorifying the wrong character.

The daughter is clearly gifted, responsible and emotionally intelligent, yet the script sidelines her entirely. The father invests everything, financially and emotionally, into the son who fails at nearly everything, while the daughter gets reduced to a "25 lakh marriage fund."

The writing bends over backward to justify the son's failures, as if mediocrity automatically deserves sympathy. Meanwhile, the mother and sister become props in his redemption story.

The father's obsession with "fixing" his useless son while ignoring his accomplished daughter might've worked if the movie had the guts to call it out. Instead, it romanticizes it. The result? Two hours of misplaced sympathy and unearned drama.

If Taare Zameen Par was a heartfelt masterpiece that shed light on learning disabilities and touched a societal nerve, Sitare Zameen Par is its tone-deaf cousin that crashes the party, eats all the snacks and leaves nothing of value behind.

Let's call it what it is: a desperate attempt to cash in on nostalgia with none of the soul, depth or emotional intelligence of its predecessor.

Taare Zameen Par gave us Ishaan's silent struggles and Aamir Khan's portrayal of a patient, emotionally aware teacher who restored faith in the education system. In Sitare Zameen Par, Aamir Khan plays what feels like a parody of himself, a man-child whining through his midlife crisis, fumbling around with forced comedy and a script that mistakes noise for humor.

The jokes are flat, the characters are cardboard and the plot tries so hard to be uplifting that it trips over its own shoelaces. There's a jarring mismatch between the intended emotional arcs and the slapstick execution. The storytelling lacks any real tension or subtlety. Instead, it leans on loud theatrics and awkwardly stitched-together "life lessons" that feel more like WhatsApp forwards than meaningful commentary.

In short, Sitare Zameen Par is a film that doesn't know what it wants to be. It's not funny enough to be a comedy, not deep enough to be a drama and nowhere near intelligent enough to be called satire. It's a misfire from someone who once raised the bar for socially responsible cinema.