These decisions include The Rising , based on the life of Mangal Pandey , a soldier in the Indian rebellion of 1857 , Rang De Basanti , which caused controversy by tackling government corruption as the root cause of a tragic air force plane crash , and Khan 's directorial debut , Taare Zameen Par , depicting the life of an eight-year-old dyslexic boy whose future is turned around by a sympathetic teacher .