Actor Aamir Khan has addressed the long-standing belief that his iconic 3 Idiots character Rancho, also known as Phunsukh Wangdu, was inspired by educator and activist Sonam Wangchuk. Calling it a misconception, the actor said neither he nor the film’s writers knew Sonam while making the 2009 blockbuster.
Aamir Khan clarifies his 3 Idiots character is not inspired by Sonam Wangchuk
Aamir spoke about the issue during his appearance at the closing ceremony of the London Indian Film Festival, where Lagaan was screened to mark 25 years of the film. After the screening, the actor interacted with the audience and answered questions on his career and films.
One of the questions was about Sonam Wangchuk, who is currently on an indefinite hunger strike at Jantar Mantar over alleged irregularities in the NEET examination. Aamir also shared that he is worried about Sonam’s health and hopes he “ends his fast” soon.
When asked if Rancho was based on Sonam Wangchuk, Aamir said, “No, that is not true actually. That is a misconception. I didn’t know about Mr Sonam at that time when we were doing the film, 3 Idiots. I saw a video of Chatur just recently, and he said that. But he is wrong. Maybe that is what Chatur was thinking, but I want to tell you that neither Raju nor Abhijat (Rajkumar Hirani or Abhijat Joshi), who are the two writers, we didn’t know about Mr Sonam. However, what Mr Sonam is doing is good work in any case. He doesn’t have to be based on a character of 3 idiots for us to respect him and the work that he does. I wanted to share this from a factual point of view.”
The actor also expressed concern over Sonam’s health, saying, “I hope he ends his fast.”
Omi Vaidya had extended support to Sonam Wangchuk
Aamir’s clarification comes days after actor Omi Vaidya, who played Chatur Ramalingam in 3 Idiots, voiced his support for Sonam Wangchuk on social media.
In a video, Omi claimed that Aamir’s on-screen character was inspired by the activist and urged people to pay attention to his health. “Did you know that Funsukh Wangdu from 3 Idiots is actually based on a real-life Ladakhi engineer, innovator, educator and reformer named Sonam Wangchuk? I’ve met this guy. He’s a pretty interesting character. Right now he is on a very long hunger strike. His blood sugar has gone down very much. I don’t know if you’ve heard about this. I don’t know if the media is reporting this. But this is a pretty important thing,” Omi said.
He further added, “I don’t want Phunsukh Wangdu to die, and I don’t think you want him to either.”
As for Aamir Khan, the actor recently married Gauri Spratt.
