Amid the boycott calls trending on social media, it has turned out to be false news: Aamir Khan's 3 Idiots is not re-releasing in theatres.
Social media has been abuzz since Tuesday, when a report first emerged about the 2009 blockbuster, also starring R Madhavan and Sharman Joshi, releasing in theatres again on the occasion of Teacher's Day. The ongoing student protests, and the fact that Aamir has denied the film was based on the real-life educationist Sonam Wangchuk further added fuel to the fire. The production house behind 3 Idiots, Vidhu Vinod Chopra Films, took to Instagram on Wednesday afternoon and refuted all such claims. They wrote, “With reference to recent media reports claiming that 3 Idiots will be re-released on 4th September, Vidhu Vinod Chopra Films would like to clarify that these reports are false and factually incorrect.”
They also requested the media to only rely on information through their official channels, "We request members of the media and fans to rely solely on official announcements made through Vidhu Vinod Chopra Films' verified channels.
3 Idiots, directed by Rajkumar Hirani, was hailed by both the audiences and critics upon its original release. It focused on the shortcomings of the Indian education system. Kareena Kapoor Khan, Boman Irani and Mona Singh were also a part of the light-hearted comedy.
What Aamir Khan had said about Sonam Wangchuk
Speaking at the recent London Indian Film Festival, Aamir had said on the belief that 3 Idiots is based on Sonam Wangchuk, "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 nor Abhijat (Rajkumar Hirani or Abhijat Joshi), who are the two writers, we didn’t know about Mr Sonam. 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.”