Characters:

Darsheel Safary as Ishaan Nandkishore Awasthi
Ishaan is 8 years old. He loves colours, fish, shiny things, dogs, golas, spaceships and kites. He loves to draw and paint and be a bindaas boy. He does not want to go to boarding school.

Vipin Sharma as Nandkishore Awasthi
Nandkishore Awasthi is Ishaan’s father. He gets very angry when Ishaan’s teachers from school complain. Nandkishore is of the view that only Boarding school can teach discipline to Ishaan.

Tisca Chopra as Maya Awasthi
Maya is Ishaan’s mother. She makes good food and looks after Ishaan when he gets hurt. She is very sad that Ishaan has to go to boarding school but she thinks it will be for the best.

Sachet Engineer as Yohaan Awasthi
Yohaan is Ishaan’s Dada. Dada is a very good student and also plays tennis and cricket. He also looks after Ishaan and loves him.

Aamir Khan as Ram Shankar Nikumbh
Nikumbh sir doesn't scold Ishaan like the other teachers. He sports a very nice smile and he likes colours and fish and dogs and painting too!

Tanay Chheda as Rajan Damodaran
Rajan is Ishaan’s best friend. He is very smart and intelligent and a good student and always knows the answers to all the questions. He always tries to be helpful to Ishaan.

Synopsis:

Ishaan Awasthi is an eight-year-old whose world is filled with wonders that no one else seems to appreciate; colours, fish, dogs and kites are just not important in the world of adults, who are much more interested in things like homework, marks and neatness. And Ishaan just cannot seem to get anything right in class.

When he gets into far more trouble than his parents can handle, he is packed off to a boarding school to ‘be disciplined’. Things are no different at his new school, and Ishaan has to contend with the added trauma of separation from his family.

One day a new art teacher bursts onto the scene, Ram Shankar Nikumbh, who infects the students with joy and optimism. He breaks all the rules of ‘how things are done’ by asking them to think, dream and imagine, and all the children respond with enthusiasm, all except Ishaan. Nikumbh soon realizes that Ishaan is very unhappy, and he sets out to discover why. With time, patience and care, he ultimately helps Ishaan find himself.