Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan will be back on the big screen after a three-year hiatus. Mr. Perfectionist, as he has been called, will star in yet another socially conscious comedy-drama, this time focusing on neurodiversity. Khan plays a basketball coach named Gulshan in Sitaare Zameen Par.
It’s based on the 2018 Spanish film Champions, which was inspired by the life story of American basketball coach Ron Jones. After being convicted of impaired driving, Jones was sentenced to coach intellectually disabled players. Working with them changed his life and gave him new perspectives.
Sitaare Zameen Par will be released in theatres on June 20. It’s Khan’s first film role since his last socially conscious comedy-drama, Laal Singh Chaddha. There he played an autistic Sikh man in a Hindi adaptation of Forrest Gump. The film pokes at religious communalism in India and is anchored by an unusual love story between the Laal Singh Chaddha and a Christian woman played by Kareena Kapoor Khan. Not surprisingly, this irritated some supporters of the Hindu nationalist BJP government.
Khan’s willingness to address critical social issues has made him a darling of India’s progressive intelligentsia.
Watch the music video for “Good for Nothing”—the first released from Sitaare Zameen Par.
Sitaare Zameen Par marks return to disability
Over his career, Khan has starred in and produced three of Bollywood’s 10 biggest box-office hits in history. His 2016 biopic Dangal remains far out in front at Number 1. In it, he plays a former wrestler who trains his daughters to become world-class champions in the ring,
Khan’s next film, Secret Superstar, revolves around an ambitious young girl who defies her father’s opposition to her becoming a singer. She hides her face with a niqab and anonymously posts songs on the Internet. It generated the seventh highest box-office revenue in Bollywood history.
Meanwhile, Khan’s satirical 2014 film, PK, ranks ninth. It lampoons religious superstition,
Sitaare Zameen Par has been described as the spiritual successor to Khan’s critically acclaimed 2007 film, Taare Zameen Par. It’s about a brilliant boy who overcomes a reading disorder. Recently, the Times of India reported that an audience gave Sitaare Zameen Par a standing ovation following a special screening.
“Many people don’t understand such children whom we call ‘not normal’,” author Sudha Murty told the Times of India. “But this is a very beautiful movie where you understand that they are very sensitive and that they have a pure heart.”
“Sar Aankhon Pe Mere” is the second music video released from Sitaare Zameen Par.
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