Sitaare Zameen Par Review: Aamir Khan Leads a Joyful Yet Uneven Bollywood Sports Tale

Inside Sitaare Zameen Par: Bollywood's Big Swing at Diversity

If you’ve followed Aamir Khan’s career, you know he’s never been shy about mixing heart and hope. He does it again with Sitaare Zameen Par, where he dons the whistle as Gulshan—a basketball coach thrown off course both at work and at home until a team of differently-abled kids offers him one last shot at redemption.

Gulshan isn't exactly a natural hero. After a fiery run-in ends his coaching job, he finds himself reluctantly assigned to a group of kids nobody expects much from. The twist? They're gearing up to take on the best in the country. As you’d guess, it’s not a smooth ride: early scenes are full of rough scrimmages, missed baskets, and plenty of shattered expectations—from both the team and Gulshan himself.

Aamir Khan taps into both frustration and charm as his character fumbles through his new responsibilities. You can see real change as Gulshan moves from being combative and closed-off to gradually opening up, learning just as much from his players as he tries to teach. Genelia D’Souza, playing his wife, and Dolly Ahluwalia, as his quietly supportive mother, bring some tenderness to his story, even though their roles don’t dive very deep. But it’s the young, mostly new faces making up the basketball team who truly steal the limelight. They’re never just props—they bring energy, authenticity, and a sense of fun that lifts familiar scenes into something more memorable.

Where Sitaare Zameen Par Scores—and Where It Misses

The film is a swirl of feel-good moments, sharp jokes, and all the big musical numbers you’d want, thanks to Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy’s soundtrack. Cinematographer swaps between close courtside shots and big, sweeping crowd scenes, while editor keeps the story buzzing along. The look and sound of the movie keep you hooked, even if the underlying plot sometimes stumbles.

Most viewers will clock the story beats from miles away. It’s impossible to ignore echoes of Aamir’s past blockbusters. Think the underdogs banding together in Lagaan, the child-centric focus of Taare Zameen Par, and even the coach’s fierce push to victory from Dangal. But where those films had fresh perspective or a gut-punch emotional wallop, this time, the writing leaves too many easy answers and unresolved threads. Major questions—like how this ragtag team gets tournament-ready in record time—never really get tackled. The training montages breeze by so quickly it’s tough to buy the transformation.

The climax arrives with plenty of flash but little grit. Aamir’s final realization, that he’s learned more from his players than he’s taught them, feels touching but maybe a bit forced, since there’s not enough groundwork laid out for it to hit hard emotionally. And if you’ve seen a Bollywood sports film before, the ending won’t shock you.

That said, Sitaare Zameen Par does have its heart in the right place. The movie never talks down to its differently-abled characters or drags them out just for sympathy. Instead, it takes their challenges, quirks, and ambitions seriously, putting them front and center—not just as a box to be checked, but as real, multifaceted stars of the story. If you’re looking for Bollywood’s push toward broader inclusivity and genuine representation, this is a step forward.

No, this isn’t Aamir’s most powerful outing story-wise, but his efforts—and those of his fresh-faced co-stars—keep Sitaare Zameen Par bouncing along with hope and sincerity. Even if the story doesn’t dunk every shot, its celebration of difference feels more than just skin-deep this time.