It explores the life and imagination of Ishaan (Safary), an artistically gifted 8-year-old boy whose poor academic performance leads his parents to send him to a boarding school, where a new art teacher Nikumbh (Khan) suspects that he is dyslexic and helps him to overcome his reading disorder.

Fed up with Ishaan's failures, lack of improvement, and rebellious behavior, Nandkishore sends him to a boarding school despite Maya and Yohan's protests.

Ishaan's only friend is Rajan Damodaran, a physically disabled boy who is one of the top students and resides with his family there, as his father is part of the school's board.

At the end of the school year, Ram organises an arts and crafts contest for the staff and students, judged by artist Lalita Lajmi.

The husband and wife team of Amole Gupte and Deepa Bhatia developed the story that eventually became Taare Zameen Par as a way of understanding why some children could not conform to a conventional educational system.

Gupte himself was to direct,[10] but the first week's dailies were a great disappointment to Khan, who "lost faith in Amole and his capability of translating on screen what he had so beautifully written on paper".

With the working title no longer relevant,[15] Khan, Gupte, and Bhatia discussed several alternatives,[16] eventually deciding on Taare Zameen Par.

[19] Khan spent his first two days as director blocking the first scene to be filmed: Ishaan returning home from school and putting away his recently collected fish.

The production staff placed acrylic sheets invisible to the naked eye on the classroom windows to mask the sounds of nearby crowds and helicopters.

The change of setting was a "breath of fresh air" for the production crew, who moved from Ishaan's small house in Mysore Colony, Chembur to the "vast, beautiful environs" of Panchgani.

For example, an early scene in the film featured a school assembly; Khan wanted the students to act naturally and to ignore the principal's speech, but recognised that this would be a difficult feat with cameras present.

[47] The musical sequence of "Jame Raho" establishes the characters of the four members of Ishaan's family; for example, the father is hardworking and responsible, and Yohaan is an "ideal son" who does all the right things.

A robotic style of music overlaps most of the sequence—this is mirrored by the machine-like morning routines of the mother, father, and Yohaan—but changes for Ishaan's portion to imply that he is different from the rest.

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").

[77] In response to Khan's support for the Narmada Bachao Andolan and his criticism of Chief Minister Narendra Modi,[78][79] approximately 50 activists of the Sardar Patel Group conducted protests outside of PVR and INOX theatres in Vadodara, Gujarat.

"[85] Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, whose parent company previously acquired 33 percent of UTV Software Communications, bought the DVD rights for distribution in North America, the United Kingdom, and Australia for ₹70 million (US$810,000).

[93] Subhash K. Jha suggests that the film is "a work of art, a water painting where the colors drip into our hearts, which could easily have fallen into the motions of over-sentimentality.

"[94] Khalid Mohamed of Hindustan Times wrote that Khan "rekindles those uncomfortable moments of our childhood but reassures us that hey, it’s quite okay to be out-of-the-box," and labelled the movie "a must-experience for sensitive viewers.

"[96] Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN argued that the true power of the film lies in its "remarkable, rooted, rock-solid script which provides the landscape for such an emotionally engaging, heart-warming experience.

"[98] Jaspreet Pandohar, also of BBC, posited that Taare Zameen Par is a "far cry from the formulaic masala flicks churned out by the Bollywood machine," and is "an inspirational story that is as emotive as it is entertaining; this is a little twinkling star of a movie.

[94] Although she applauded the film overall and recommended "a mandatory viewing for all schools and all parents", Nikhat Kazmi of The Times of India believed the second half was "a bit repetitive," the script needed "taut editing," and Ishaan's trauma "[seemed] a shade too prolonged and the treatment simplistic.

"[102] Despite commending the "great performances" and excellent directing, Gautaman Bhaskaran of The Hollywood Reporter, too, suggested that the movie "suffers from a weak script.

[105] In his article "Taare Zameen Par and dyslexic savants" featured in the Annals of Indian Academy of Neurology, Ambar Chakravarty noted the general accuracy of Ishaan's dyslexia.

[106] Likewise, in their article "Wake up call from 'Stars on the Ground'" for the Indian Journal of Psychiatry, T. S. Sathyanarayana Rao and V. S. T. Krishna wrote that the film "deserves to be vastly appreciated as an earnest endeavor to portray with sensitivity and empathetically diagnose a malady in human life".

The film depicts how "threats and coercion are not capable of unearthing rich human potentialities deeply embedded in children", and that teachers should instead map their strengths and weakness.

With this in mind, the author felt that Khan "dexterously drives home the precise point that our first priority ought to be getting to know the child before making any efforts to fill them with knowledge and abilities".

Anjuli Bawa, a parent-activist and founder of Action Dyslexia Delhi, said that the number of parents who visit her office increased tenfold in the months following the film's release.

[117] Speculation for the reasons behind Taare Zameen Par's failed bid included Rediff.com's Arthur J. Pai's observation that it lacked mainstream media attention;[118] AMPAS jury member Krishna Shah criticized its length and abundance of songs.

[119] "Three days before Chandni Chowk to China hit theaters in the U.S. and India, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced its shortlist of nine films edging closer to a foreign-language nomination.

[126] In this context, Slumdog Millionaire actor Mahesh Manjrekar stated, "I'm sad that Aamir's Taare Zameen Par didn't make it to the final round of the Oscars.