On June 20, Aamir Khan’s Sitaare Zameen Par hit the theatres. The movie, touted as a spiritual successor to Taare Zameen Par (2007) – shines the spotlight on people dealing with intellectual disabilities.
Before the release, I caught up with Aamir for an exclusive virtual interview, wherein he spoke about the film and what he wishes to achieve from it, among other issues.
“It’s a story that makes you happy. That’s the first thing I want to say. So, when I experienced this material for the first time, it just made me happy,” Aamir says.
“And the second thing it did was it just altered the way I look at people with neurodivergent abilities. Yeah, it just altered that. And that’s what I’m hoping will happen with the audience,” he adds.
“I really am hoping that this film sensitizes them in such a way that the next time they meet a person who’s different from them, who’s neurodivergent, the way they interact with that person should completely change. The way they see that person should completely change,” Aamir says.
Sitaare Zameen Par is directed by R.S. Prasanna and produced by Aamir Khan Productions.
The film stars Genelia Deshmukh opposite Aamir and introduces ten debutant actors with intellectual disabilities: Aroush Datta, Gopi Krishnan Varma, Vedant Sharmaa, Naman Misra, Rishi Shahani, Rishabh Jain, Ashish Pendse, Samvit Desai, Simran Mangeshkar, and Aayush Bhansali.
The ensemble cast also features Dolly Ahluwalia, Gurpal Singh, Brijendra Kala, and Ankita Sehgal.
To know more about what Aamir said, watch the Spotlight interview here.
