Remakes Aren't Just Cut, Copy & Paste

Ahead of his new film's release on June 20, Aamir Khan discusses remaking the Spanish film Champions for Indian audiences and how Sitaare Zameen Par is Taare Zameen Par and 'ten steps ahead'

- SHREYAS PANDE

After the underwhelming response to his last film, Laal Singh Chaddha (2022), the ambitious remake of Tom Hanks' much popular Forrest Gump (1994), Aamir Khan is returning with an adaptation of another international feature. Khan's movie tells the story of an abrasive basketball coach leading a team of ten neurodivergent people. The actor-producer says that he was deeply moved by the Spanish film Champions (2018) and wanted to make an Indian version through Sitaare Zameen Par, and that he doesn't have a problem with remakes.

"For me, it's a new canvas. Besides Laal Singh Chaddha, many of my earlier films were remakes too. Be it Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988), which was based on Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet or Ghajini (2008), and they were all hits," he says. "Remakes are more than just cut, copy and paste. You have to put

The film releases in theatres on June 20.

Excerpts from the conversation:

Why did you want to make this film?

It started with director RS Prasanna showing me Champions. I felt that it was an ideal sequel to Taare Zameen Par (2007), as it talks about the same topic but goes ten steps ahead in the exploration. In Taare Zameen Par, it was my character, a neurotypical person, helping a neurodivergent kid. But here, it's the opposite. I wanted people to be sensitised about the issue.