Activist Sonam Wangchuk's hunger strike enters its 20th day today. Many people had been criticising Aamir Khan for not speaking up in support of the protester despite playing a character on 3 Idiots inspired by him.
The actor has finally spoken up on the matter and while he expressed concerns about Sonam's health he said that it is a "misconception" that his character in the Rajkumar Hirani directed movie is based on the Ladakhi engineer.
Bollywood star Aamir Khan has finally opened up about activist Sonam Wangchuk and his ongoing indefinite hunger strike that has prompted concern and protest from all over the country.
The actor was being heavily criticised for his convenient silence on the matter, especially because he played him on screen. Aamir memorably portrayed Phunsukh Wangdu aka Rancho in the 2009 hit movie 3 Idiots, widely believed to be based on Sonam. His co-star from the dilm, Omi Vaidya also shared a video message recently, urging everyone to support Sonam, who inspired the on-screen character everyone loved.
Aamir was present at the London Indian Film Festival where he talked about the activist during the question-answer session. However, while talking about Sonam's inspiration behind Rancho's character, the actor 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 [Rajkumar Hirani] nor Abhijat [Abhijat Joshi], who are the two writers, we didn’t know about Mr Sonam", the actor continued.
He added, "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".
Answering another question about Sonam's deteriorating health, Aamir went on to say, "All of us are very concerned for his health and his life. We hope it ends well. All of us are hoping that he ends his fast".
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