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Sonam Wangchuk takes a dig at Aamir Khan’s denial: Short-term memory loss—the 'Ghajini' effect
Sonam Wangchuk humorously responds to Aamir Khan's denial that his 3 Idiots character was based on him, suggesting Khan suffered short-term memory loss
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Activist and environmentalist Sonam Wangchuk has taken a lighthearted dig at Aamir Khan following the actor’s claim that his iconic 3 Idiots character, Phunsukh Wangdu, was not based on him. This exchange follows co-star Omi Vaidya’s social media post asserting that Wangdu was indeed inspired by Wangchuk—a claim Aamir subsequently dismissed as “wrong.”Addressing Aamir’s denial during an appearance on a podcast, Wangchuk quipped that the actor might have suffered short-term memory loss after their interaction:
”In the videos that resurfaced, he was watching my speech in his Ghajini outfit. Maybe because he was in that outfit, he experienced short-term memory loss and forgot our meeting after 15 minutes. So, I’m not surprised.”
Clarifying that their encounter was more than a passing interaction, Wangchuk described it as a “detailed meeting.” He added, “They say he gets deeply immersed in his characters. Perhaps he was too immersed in his Ghajini persona when he watched me receive an award at an event we both attended. Otherwise, we discussed a lot of ideas.”
Despite the resurfaced video and his recount of their meeting, Wangchuk clarified that he does not claim the character was entirely modeled after him.
”That’s what we call an influence or an inspiration, right? Maybe he shared those ideas with his writers, who then modified the existing script. Perhaps he did it subconsciously, or the writers were unaware of where the ideas originated. Either way, I have no issue with it.”
In the 2009 blockbuster 3 Idiots, Aamir Khan portrayed Phunsukh Wangdu, a renowned educator and innovator from Ladakh whose true identity is revealed only at the film’s climax. For most of the narrative, he goes by the pseudonym “Rancho,” completing an engineering degree in place of his father’s employer’s son.
Co-written and directed by Rajkumar Hirani and produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra, the film also starred Kareena Kapoor, R. Madhavan, Sharman Joshi, Boman Irani and Mona Singh.
Earlier, at an event talking about Sonam Wangchuk inspiring 3 Idiots, Aamir Khan 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 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”
‘Sonam, it’s done bro'
Also reacting to Salman Khan's post, activist Sonam Wangchuk was amused by the meme based on Khan's "Sonam, it's done bro" remark and attributed the actor's comments during his hunger strike to "compulsions" he may have had.
During the interview, Wangchuk said, “Majbooriyan rahi hongi sabki (Everyone must have had their own compulsions). I don’t want to get into that.”
“You have to look in all directions. The fact that he even said something at all, I respect that. Otherwise, I can’t comment on his compulsions,” added the activist.
