This Sonam’s trending too, and he isn’t bewafaa!

The 50-year-old engineer from Leh, Sonam Wangchuk, popular as the inspiration for Aamir Khan-starrer 3 Idiots, is trending on social media. And that’s because he’s just bagged a global award, and internet users have taken the Sonam Gupta Bewafaa Hai campaign forward, only this time, with another Sonam.

The fascination of social media users with the name Sonam, doesn’t seem to die. After Sonam Gupta Bewafaa Hai, which was the toast of the internet for the last few days, this time, it’s another person – Sonam Wangchuk – an engineer from Ladakh, who is trending.

Sonam Wangchuk (left) is popular for being the inspiration for actor Aamir Khan’s character Phunsukh Wangdu in the film 3 Idiots (right).

Internet users posted status and memes that said, ‘Sonam engineer hai!’ The man, who won an award in Los Angeles on Tuesday, is popularly known to be the inspiration for actor Aamir Khan’s character, Phunsukh Wangdu, in the film 3 Idiots (2009). Wangchuk has been working to solve water scarcity issues in Western Himalayas and has often been asked at public events, whether he was the muse for Aamir’s quirky character.

“Mai thak gaya hun is sawaal ka jawaab dete dete (I’m tired of answering this question),” said Wangchuk, at a talk in the Capital last month. In flawless Hindi the 50-year-old said, “Let me put a stop to this question, once in for all. I am Sonam and not Phunsukh Wangdu. I met Aamir Khan at an event in Mumbai (before the film) and suggested that he makes a film on how dispute between two countries can be solved through public talks.”

Though Wangchuk didn’t meet the actor post the event, soon 3 Idiots was released and he was flooded with mails from people, asking about his connection with the film. “Aamir did see a documentary on my work at that event, but I can’t say if that inspired him. I wrote to him two years after the film released. I haven’t received a reply till date and I’m not even waiting for one,” he said.