Taare Zameen Par's child star Yohaan is now a gold medal-winning dentist and trainee pilot in the UK

Dubai: When Taare Zameen Par released in 2007, it changed the conversation around learning disabilities, parenting and childhood in India.

It also introduced two young actors who left a lasting impression: Darsheel Safary as the dyslexic Ishaan, and Sachet Engineer as Yohaan, Ishaan's academically gifted, fiercely protective elder brother.

While Darsheel has continued working in entertainment, Sachet quietly disappeared from the spotlight after the film's success. Nearly two decades later, the story of where he ended up is just as compelling as anything he did on screen.

Sachet Engineer, who was 11 years old when he was cast in Taare Zameen Par, turned down every film offer that came his way after the movie became a cultural phenomenon. Instead, he chose academics, a decision that mirrors his on-screen character in an almost uncanny way.

He graduated from DY Patil University, where he earned a gold medal in Periodontology, before moving to the UK to complete his M.Clin.Dent in Periodontology at the UCL Eastman Dental Institute in London, one of the most prestigious dental institutions in the world.

He is a registered member of the European Federation of Periodontology and has cleared both parts of the Overseas Registration Examination, making him fully eligible to practise dentistry in the UK.

Dentistry is not his only pursuit. In 2024, Sachet shared a photograph from the cockpit of an aircraft on his private Instagram account, giving fans a glimpse into another chapter of his life entirely. "Being in control up here makes the fiercest challenges down below shrink to insignificance. A true reminder that the horizon is endless, and so are possibilities. My first flight, but certainly not the last," he wrote alongside the image.

A gold medal in dentistry and a pilot's licence in the making. Yohaan would approve.

What makes Sachet's story particularly interesting is that his entire film career was essentially an accident. Speaking to Bollywood Hungama in 2022, he revealed that he was not even the one auditioning that day.

"I am from a film family. My grandmother, Krishna Kumari Seth, was an actress while my grandfather, Suraj Prakash, was a producer. So I was always surrounded by the world of films, though I didn't plan to get into the field. The makers were originally auditioning my younger brother. I just happened to be there and they asked me, 'Why don't you also audition?' I did, and a month later, I got a call. I was 11 at that time," he said.

The film's success brought immediate recognition, but Sachet kept his head down. "I got a few film offers but didn't take them up because I wanted to pursue my education before I got sidetracked," he said. He did leave the door open to an eventual return to acting in that same 2022 interview, though four years on, there has been no sign of a comeback.