Two reactions, one cause. While Aamir Khan focuses on setting the ‘3 Idiots’ record straight, Kiran Rao goes further, calling out the silence around Sonam Wangchuk’s fast.
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Bollywood actor Aamir Khan has finally spoken about activist Sonam Wangchuk’s ongoing hunger strike at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar. His comments come shortly after his former wife, filmmaker Kiran Rao, changed her Instagram display picture in support of the protest.
Aamir was asked about Wangchuk during an interaction at the British Film Institute. The question referred to a long-running belief that the film’s lead character, Phunsukh Wangdu, was based on the activist.
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Aamir rejected this idea. He said neither he, nor director Rajkumar Hirani, nor writer Abhijat Joshi knew Sonam Wangchuk personally when the film was made.
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“No, that’s not true, actually. That is a misconception,” Aamir said.
He also referred to a video of his co-star Omi Vaidya, who played Chatur in the film. Vaidya had spoken about Wangchuk while backing the hunger strike. Aamir said the link people draw from that is not correct.
“Maybe that’s what Chatur was thinking, but I want to tell you neither did Raju, nor Abhijat, nor I. We didn’t know about Sonam,” he said.
Aamir made it clear his clarification was not a dig at Wangchuk or his work. He said the activist deserves respect for his achievements, film connection or not.
He pointed out that Wangchuk himself has denied the Phunsukh Wangdu link in the past. Aamir said he only wanted to set the facts straight, since the misconception has run for years.
“Just from the factual point of view, I wanted to clarify,” he said.
The talk then turned to the hunger strike itself. Aamir stayed away from politics but spoke about his worry for Wangchuk’s health.
“We are all very concerned about his health and his life,” he said. “We hope that it ends well. All of us are hoping that he ends his fast and looks after himself.”
Kiran Rao had already voiced her support before Aamir spoke. She changed her Instagram display picture and posted a message backing Wangchuk and fellow protestors.
“I stand in solidarity with Sonam Wangchuk, Abhijeet Dipke, the CJP, and all the citizens of this country, young and old, who are protesting for the rights of our students,” she wrote.
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She thanked Wangchuk, Neha, Maneesh, Ameen and others for the hunger strike and said the country owes them for waking people up from apathy.
Rao also flagged the silence around the strike, now well past two weeks. She called it distressing and asked what it would take for those in power to respond. She urged the government to talk to the protestors, hear the students out, and end the deadlock.
“We the people have a right to be heard,” she wrote.
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