Aamir Khan breaks 17 years old illusion, says – ‘3 Idiots’ Rancho was not based on Sonam Wangchuk’

New Delhi: Actor Aamir Khan has rejected the 17-year-old belief that the popular character Rancho (Phunsukh Wangdu) from the film ‘3 Idiots’ was based on education reformer Sonam Wangchuk. At the London Indian Film Festival, he said that neither he nor the film’s writers Rajkumar Hirani and Abhishek Joshi knew Sonam Wangchuk while making the film.

Aamir said, “This is not true. This is a misunderstanding. We did not know Sonam Wangchuk when we were making ‘3 Idiots’.”

Recently, actor Omi Vaidya, in the style of his famous character ‘Chatur’, released a video in support of Wangchuk and said, “I do not want Phunsukh Wangdu to die.” On this Aamir said smilingly, “Clever was wrong.”

He further said that to respect Sonam Wangchuk’s work, it is not necessary that the character in the film be based on her. Aamir also reminded that Sonam Wangchuk herself had clarified many times before that the character of ‘3 Idiots’ was not based on her.

What did Sonam Wangchuk say earlier?

Sonam Wangchuk has also been distancing herself from this notion for years. During a conversation with Amitabh Bachchan in ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’, he had said, “If you say that the film can be inspired by my work, then I will not deny it completely. But it would not be right to say that the film is based on me.”

He had clearly said, “I am not Phunsukh Wangdu. I am Sonam Wangchuk. I work in real life, not in films.”

‘The film team came to my school’

Wangchuk had claimed in a lecture that after the release of the film, people told him that ‘3 Idiots’ was made on him. Then he came to know that the film team had also reached his school. According to him, permission was never taken from him and later he even wrote a letter to the producers, but did not receive any reply.

However, he also said that he did not make this dispute public at that time, because he did not want people to see it as a demand for compensation.

Expressed concern about the fast

During the conversation, Aamir Khan also expressed concern over Sonam Wangchuk’s current hunger strike. “We are all worried about his health and life. We hope he will end his fast,” he said.

In this way, both Aamir Khan and Sonam Wangchuk have clarified at different times that Rancho of ‘3 Idiots’ was not directly based on Sonam Wangchuk, although this perception remained for a long time among the people due to the work done by Wangchuk in the field of education and innovation.