Sonam Wangchuk has responded to Aamir Khan’s statement that he had never met Wangchuk before the making of 3 Idiots. Aamir had also said that the character of Phunsukh Wangdu in the film was not inspired by Wangchuk.
Speaking on a podcast with Prakhar Gupta, Wangchuk addressed Aamir’s claim and recalled their meeting.
Wangchuk said, “He (Aamir) said that we never met. After this, some videos surfaced in which he was seen watching my speech while in his Ghajini look.”
He added, “Since he was in his Ghajini look, perhaps he might have lost his memory for some time. He must have forgotten everything after 15 minutes. I am not surprised by this. We had a detailed meeting.”
Sonam Wangchuk was in the news for sitting on a hunger strike for the Cockroach Janta Party.
Wangchuk then took a dig at Aamir, saying, “We have heard that he gets very deep into his characters. Perhaps he was so immersed in the role of Ghajini that he forgot he had come to the award ceremony where I was being honoured. We had a detailed meeting and discussed many ideas.”
Wangchuk on the character in 3 Idiots
Wangchuk also explained why he believes some aspects of Aamir’s character in 3 Idiots may have been influenced by their conversations. However, he clarified that this does not necessarily mean the character was based entirely on his life.
He said, “Perhaps he didn’t tell his team that he had seen all this and spoken to me.”
He further explained that the writers and director may have incorporated ideas from Aamir’s conversations without knowing their original source.
“They could have said that they just added these things to the script. So, the writers and the director might not have known that Aamir had added these things after meeting and talking to someone,” Wangchuk said.
He added, “That might be why they forgot about it. It doesn’t make any difference to me.”
What did Aamir Khan say about Sonam Wangchuk?
Aamir Khan recently responded to a question about Wangchuk during a film event. A woman told the actor that many people had been inspired by him while growing up and suggested that he, too, had been inspired by Wangchuk.
Aamir interrupted and said, “No, this is a misconception. When the film was being made, I didn’t even know Sonam. I just saw Chatur’s (3 Idiots actor Omi Vaidya) video, but he is wrong. Neither Rajkumar Hirani nor our writers nor I knew about Sonam.”
However, Aamir praised Wangchuk’s work and said, “Sonam is doing the right thing in every way. We should respect him and his work. Sonam himself has also said that the character in 3 Idiots is not based on him.”
Speaking about Wangchuk’s hunger strike, Aamir added, “Everyone is concerned about his health and life. We hope that everything will end well. We all hope that he ends his hunger strike and takes care of his health.”
Old award videos resurface
Following Aamir’s statement, an old Josh Talks video featuring Wangchuk went viral, in which he claimed that he had met Aamir in 2008.
Another old video also surfaced showing Wangchuk receiving an award on stage while Aamir Khan sat in the audience and listened to his speech. The video was reportedly recorded before the release of 3 Idiots, when Aamir was sporting his Ghajini look.
