Every child is special: A look at some films with the most lovable child characters. And what better way to start than with Aamir Khan's directorial debut Taare Zameen Par with the magical Darsheel Safary who played the role of a dyslexic boy.
The hills are alive: No look at children-centric films is complete without a mention of one of the most popular films of all time - The Sound of Music. Julie Andrews played the dream nanny to the seven Von-Trapp children, who rediscovered their childhood and their sense of music with her.
Back home: Lately, Bollywood has made an attempt to move beyond the usual boy-meets-girl routine, and has made place for maturer characters. Ta Ra Rum Pum starring Saif Ali Khan, Rani Mukherjee along with child actors Ali Haji and Angelina Idnani was heavily inspired by the World War II film Life is Beautiful.
The game of life: Roberto Benigni made his masterpiece film Life is Beautiful (La Vita è Bella) with one of the most moving child actors - Giorgio Cantarini. The film, based around a concentration camp, had a father inventing a game to keep the brutal reality of the camp from his young son.
Defining dignity: The story of two orphans, Raj Kapoor's Boot Polish starred Baby Naaz and Ratan Kumar as Belu and Bhola - two children who learned to work for a living instead of begging on the streets.
The golden ticket: Johnny Depp played the eccentric Willy Wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which is a story of a poor boy who gets an opportunity to visit Wonka's chocolate factory. Freddie Highmore played Charlie Bucket, the shy, soft-spoken protagonist of the film based on Roald Dahl's novel of the same name.
The trap: Neetu Singh's most famous childhood role was in the film Do Kaliyan where twins who were separated after their parents' divorce meet inadvertantly and decide to switch identities to bring their parents back together. This is perhaps the one time that Hollywood copied Bollywood as years later the Lindsay Lohan film The Parent Trap was made and was exactly the same story.
No hocus pocus: Another Roald Dahl favourite made into a film was the immensely popular Matilda starring Mara Wilson as the ignored little girl with magic powers.
The orphanage?: Saif Ali Khan and Rani Mukherjee came back with different children this time for the film Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic, a story of four orphans who are sent to live with the man they hate the most. The child actors are Akshat Chopra, Shriya Sharma, Rachit Sidana and Ayushi Berman. Rani Mukherjee plays an angel in the film while Rishi Kapoor plays God.
You know which film: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson play Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger in the biggest children's film series - Harry Potter.
He sees dead people: Amitabh Bachchan acted alongside Aashish Chaudhary in the film Bhoothnath where Big B played a ghost, and Aashish played a child who isn't afraid of spirits.
Super nanny: Julie Andrews played an angel in Mary Poppins which was the story of two children, Michael and Jane Banks, played by Matthew Garber and Karen Dotrice.
Man, woman, child: Way before her humiliating Karzzz days, Urmila Matondkar made an entry into Bollywood as a sweet little girl who played Naseeruddin Shah and Shabana Azmi's daughter in Masoom along with actor-turned director Jugal Hansraj who was very literally the blue-eyed-boy.
Can he have some more?: Barney Clark played the Dickensian orphan Oliver Twist in Roman Polanski's version of the film. Sir Ben Kingsley, who once played Gandhi, played the petty thief Fagin in this film.
The family: Aamir Khan and Juhi Chawla starred along with three young actors - Master Sharokh, Kunal Khemu and Baby Ashrafa in Hum Hain Rahi Pyaar Ke, which was in some senses, the Indianised Sound of Music.
Alien buddy: One of the world's all-time favourite children's film is E.T. which starred Henry Thomas and Drew Barrymore as two of the three siblings that gave shelter to the alien left behind on earth.
Cricket mania: Shreyas Talpade and Shweta Prasad starred in Nagesh Kukunoor's Iqbaal, a film about a deaf and mute boy whose dreams of making it to the Indian cricket team are fulfilled by his hard work and dedication.
The chosen ones: Georgie Henley, William Moseley, Anna Popplewell and Skandar Keynes starred as the Pevensie kids in the film The Chronicles of Narnia and its sequel Prince Caspian.
Not copied?: Zain Khan and Swini Khara starred as the two kids left at home in the film Hari Puttar, which was initially in trouble with the Harry Potter banner, because they thought it was a copy, but the truth was something very different. The film was actually a nearly frame-by-frame copy of Home Alone.
Christmas favourite: Macaulay Culkin starred as Kevin in the famous Home Alone films.
