{"id":4373,"date":"2026-07-17T07:35:41","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T07:35:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=4373"},"modified":"2026-07-17T07:35:41","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T07:35:41","slug":"aamir-khan-denies-3-idiots-character-was-based-on-activist-sonam-wangchuk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=4373","title":{"rendered":"Aamir Khan Denies \u20183 Idiots\u2019 Character Was Based on Activist Sonam Wangchuk"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\n\tBollywood superstar Aamir Khan denied that his character in \u201c3 Idiots\u201d was based on educator and climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, addressing the long-running rumor during a BFI In Conversation event at BFI Southbank, held as part of the London Indian Film Festival, which separately marked the 25th anniversary of \u201cLagaan.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=4371\">Netflix\u2019s \u2018Heartstopper Forever\u2019 Is a Wistful and Mature Ending for Charlie and Nick\u2019s Love Story: Review<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cNo, that\u2019s not true, actually. No, no. That is a misconception,\u201d Khan said.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tThe question arose after \u201c3 Idiots\u201d co-star Omi Vaidya, who played Chatur in the film, shared a video on social media linking Khan\u2019s character, Phunsukh Wangdu, to Wangchuk and drawing attention to Wangchuk\u2019s deteriorating health during a hunger strike protesting for the resignation of India\u2019s education minister.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cI know that I saw a video of Chatur just recently. He said that yes. No, he\u2019s wrong,\u201d Khan said. \u201cMaybe that\u2019s what Chatur was thinking, but I want to tell you that neither Raju [director Rajkumar Hirani] nor Abhijat [writer Joshi] were the two writers, nor I. We didn\u2019t know about Mr. Sonam. However, what Mr. Sonam is doing is good work. In any case, he doesn\u2019t have to be based on the character of \u20183 Idiots\u2019 for us to respect him and the work that he does.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n\tAsked about Wangchuk\u2019s hunger strike, Khan said: \u201cI think all of us are very concerned for his health, and we hope that it ends well. All of us are hoping that he ends his fast.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cLagaan\u201d released in 2001 and went on to be nominated for an Oscar. Asked whether he anticipated discussing \u201cLagaan\u201d on a London stage a quarter-century later, Khan said no. \u201cWe were just frightened. It was just terrified trying to get it right,\u201d he said of the production. Later in the conversation, he described the film as \u201ca film about the triumph of the human spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n\tKhan grew up in a filmmaking family; his father and uncle were both filmmakers. Asked about his early interest in acting, he said: \u201cMy parents and everyone in my family were dead against it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n\tKhan reached state champion level in tennis as a junior player before giving up the sport. Recalling an exhibition match with Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, he said: \u201cI have the distinction of having Federer and Djokovic sitting on either side of the net, trying to lower it \u2026 I\u2019m the only person who has that privilege.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n\tKhan\u2019s first exposure to a film set came around age seven or eight, during \u201cYaadon Ki Baaraat.\u201d He recalled the pancake makeup applied to his face \u201csmelled horrible.\u201d Of the set itself, he said: \u201cIt was very scary. It was all very dark, and there was \u2013 it was very noisy, and people were shouting and screaming.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n\tKhan named \u201cHoli,\u201d Ketan Mehta\u2019s 1984 film, as a turning point. \u201cI wanted to be a part of the film just to see what a Steadicam is and how it works,\u201d he said, noting the equipment never arrived and the film was shot handheld instead.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tAsked about the perception of a golden age of Hindi cinema in the 1980s and \u201990s, Khan pointed further back. \u201cFor me, the golden era of Indian cinema is 50s and 60s,\u201d he said, citing the writers, composers and filmmakers of that period, and describing the 1980s by contrast as commercial cinema\u2019s lowest point before a wave of younger directors began reviving it.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=4369\">Bollywood Star Jacqueline Fernandez Launches AI Avatar\u00a0(EXCLUSIVE)<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\tDiscussing his choice of roles as a leading man, includingDeepa Mehta\u2019s \u201c1947 Earth,\u201d Khan said: \u201cI was constantly swimming against the tide.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n\tKhan said he was in the middle of a string of box-office failures when director Mahesh Bhatt offered him a film. He turned it down because he did not like the script. \u201cHad I compromised that day, man, I think my entire career would be a series of compromises,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen I could stick to what I believed in at my worst, it gave me a lot of strength.\u201d He said the experience taught him to weigh three factors before signing any project going forward: the strength of the script, complete trust in the director and a producer willing to properly resource the creative team.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tAsked about the years following \u201cLagaan\u201d and \u201cDil Chahta Hai,\u201d both released in 2001, Khan said: \u201cI was actually going through a personal crisis myself. I was going through my divorce with Reena, and so I wasn\u2019t in a state of mind emotionally to work.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n\tHe made a comeback with Mehta\u2019s \u201cMangal Pandey.\u201d Discussing his research process for \u201cMangal Pandey,\u201d Khan said: \u201cThere\u2019s very little written about Mangal Pandey.\u201d He noted that London\u2019s India House museum holds only a few pages on the 19th-century soldier and revolutionary.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tAsked about directing child actors on \u201cTaare Zameen Par,\u201d his feature directorial debut, Khan said: \u201cI have to say, directing the kids was the easiest thing. I didn\u2019t have to tell them anything. They were so natural, they just got it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n\tAsked about the run of hits that followed, including \u201cGhajini,\u201d \u201c3 Idiots,\u201d \u201cDhoom 3,\u201d \u201cPK\u201d and \u201cDangal,\u201d Khan said: \u201cI was really fortunate to have some great stories coming my way,\u201d adding that he had no way of predicting which of the films would connect with audiences before their release.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tKhan pointed to the smartphone as the dividing line in how audiences watch films, contrasting today\u2019s viewers with what he called a \u201ccaptive audience\u201d of earlier decades. \u201cI\u2019m competing with 1000 other things,\u201d he said, adding that storytelling remains the constant that determines whether a film connects, regardless of format.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tAsked about his process, Khan said: \u201cMy first step is trying to get into the head of the character. Once that is clear to me, then everything else comes from that \u2013 the way I look, the way I behave, the way the language \u2013 all of that comes from it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n\tKhan\u2019s next film an Indo-Australian project. Aamir Khan Productions, Mind Blowing Films and Kabir Khan Films have unveiled \u201cSilkyara 41,\u201d a feature inspired by the 2023 rescue mission at the Silkyara tunnel in Uttarakhand, India. The film is written by Australian screenwriter Andrew Anastasios (\u201cThe Water Diviner\u201d) and directed by Kabir Khan (\u201cBajrangi Bhaijaan,\u201d \u201c\u201983\u2032\u201d), and centers on the role played by tunneling expert Arnold Dix in the operation. Prep begins Aug. 1 and the film begins principal photography in November. <\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=4367\">Paramount+ Subscribers Fail to Block Warner Bros. Merger as States Will Try Again Friday<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Aamir Khan denies &#8216;3 Idiots&#8217; was based on Sonam Wangchuk, addresses his hunger strike, at London Indian Film Festival talk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4372,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3530,1504,3531,3532],"class_list":["post-4373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-film","tag-3-idiots","tag-aamir-khan","tag-london-indian-film-festival-2","tag-sonam-wangchuk"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Aamir Khan Denies \u20183 Idiots\u2019 Character Was Based on Activist Sonam Wangchuk - Relocation Observer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=4373\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Aamir Khan Denies \u20183 Idiots\u2019 Character Was Based on Activist Sonam Wangchuk - 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