‘Perfectionist in copying’: Aamir Khan’s Sitaare Zameen Par trailer trolled for too many similarities with Champions
Aamir Khan was lauded for Sitaare Zameen Par when the trailer released. But he is now being trolled for ‘copying’ Champions
Last night, Bollywood’s Mr Perfectionist Aamir Khan finally unveiled the much-awaited trailer of his next film Sitaare Zameen Par. Also starring Genelia Deshmukh and 10 debutant actors, the film is a sequel to Aamir and Darsheel Safary’s 2007 masterpiece Taare Zameen Par. Ahead of the release, Genelia’s actor husband Riteish Deshmukh had reviewed the trailer as ‘extraordinary’. Fans agreed to this review when the trailer was dropped and lauded Aamir, who is playing a ‘tingu’ coach of a basketball team. However, later a clip went viral on social media drawing parallels between Sitaare Zameen Par and the 2018 Spanish film Champions. This served as a game changer, because Aamir is now being trolled.
According to the Wikipedia page of the Aamir Khan and Genelia Deshmukh-starrer, Sitaare Zameen Par is based on the 2018 Spanish film Champions. The Spanish film was originally inspired by a basketball team of individuals with intellectual disabilities in Burjassot, Valencia. It was later remade in Arabic, German and English. But netizens are now trolling the Aamir film for being a ‘frame by frame copy’ of the Spanish movie. Some claimed that the team could have opted for a sport more relatable for India than basketball, such as cricket or hockey, whereas others are comparing it to Aamir’s box office bomb Laal Singh Chaddha (2022), which was an adaptation of Forrest Gump (1994).
One such netizen claimed, “After the Forest Gump fiasco, he should have stayed away from remakes or adaptations .. yeh bhi pitegi lagta hai,” whereas a troll wrote, “Perfectionist in copying the film frame by frame.” Another comment read, “Everyone praises Aamir for his scripts but literally every movie of his Is a copy or rip off from somewhere,” whereas a social media user pointed out, “The problem that I see in this movie is we have a very niche audience who understand Basketball… Atleast they should have changed the sport like cricket lete , football , hockey... Thoda relatable lagta.”
However, some fans did come out in the film’s defence. For instance, one netizen stated, “Official remake hai bhai toh of course usme konsi nayi baat hai,” whereas another wrote, “You’re acting like people in India have all seen Champions and it’s a massive hit here. No one gives a shit if it’s a remake as no one has seen the original, all that matters is if it’s a good film.”
Are you looking forward to Sitaare Zameen Par’s theatrical release on June 20?
