Our Bureau
Mumbai
Ladakh-based education reformer and activist Sonam Wangchuk has taken a humorous dig at actor Aamir Khan after the latter said he did not know Wangchuk when 3 Idiots was being made, joking that the actor may have suffered “short-term memory loss” because he was dressed as his Ghajini character when they met.
Speaking on YouTuber Prakhar Gupta’s podcast, Wangchuk referred to videos that resurfaced showing Khan attending an event where Wangchuk was present and watching one of his speeches while dressed in the Ghajini look. Wangchuk said the actor may have been so immersed in his character that he forgot their meeting.
Wangchuk maintained that their interaction was not merely a brief introduction. According to him, the two met at length and discussed several ideas. He also recalled Khan’s presence at an award function where Wangchuk was receiving an award.
The comments come amid a renewed debate over the character Phunsukh Wangdu in Rajkumar Hirani’s 3 Idiots. The character has long been associated with Wangchuk because of similarities between their approaches to education and innovation. Khan, however, recently rejected the claim that the character was based on Wangchuk and said he was not aware of the activist when the film was being developed. He also said Hirani and writer Abhijat Joshi did not know Wangchuk at the time.
Wangchuk stopped short of claiming that 3 Idiots was a direct portrayal of his life. Instead, he suggested that ideas discussed during his interaction with Khan could have served as an influence or inspiration for the film.
He added that Khan may have incorporated some of those ideas while developing the script with his team, without necessarily telling his collaborators where the ideas originated. Wangchuk said he did not want to make an issue of it, describing the matter as something that could simply be “let go.”
The exchange has brought renewed attention to the long-running question of how much Wangchuk’s work influenced one of Bollywood’s most popular educational films.