&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "The curious case of Rancho! Not Sonam Wangchuk, Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Rajkumar Hirani have different stories behind Phunsukh Wangdu")
Engineer and educator Sonam Wangchuk has been making headlines for his indefinite hunger strike. While he has been widely known for his social work, for the wider audience, he remains the one who is the inspiration behind Aamir Khan's character of Rancho from 3 Idiots. Recently, actor Khan denied this decades-long claim, saying that this is a misconception.
While this has come as a shocker for several people, Sonam has for a very long time said he never felt connected to the role, and has always distanced himself from the blockbuster movie. While Khan has talked about Omi Vaidya's claim, it was producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra who said that the character was inspired by him. But, at the other end, director Rajkumar Hirani said that the character of Rancho was inspired by an FTII student. So what is this curious case of the character?
Released in 2009, the movie was officially adapted from Chetan Bhagat’s novel Five Point Someone, and Wangchuk also said back then that the makers were never consulted by the makers of the movie. While he had never dragged this thing, he had almost stayed away from it. But as this chatter grew, both director Rajkumar Hirani and Vidhu Vinod Chopra had different versions.
Vidhu Vinod Chopra has said Rancho was inspired by me
In 2014, the 12th Fail director said that the movie was inspired by his life. During a conversation at NFDC’s Film Bazaar in 2014, Chopra said that the character of Rancho is based on him.
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''It is inspired by my life,” he said before adding, “When I was nominated for the Oscars, the institute invited me as a guest and handed me my passing certificate as an honour.”
Further, Chopra added that his family wanted him to become a doctor, and he hid his dream to become a filmmaker.
“When I was nominated for the Oscars, I confessed everything to my father. I thought he would congratulate me. Instead, he looked at me and said, ‘You fooled me,’ and gave me a slap with love and affection,'' he shared.
Also read: 'Don't want Phunsukh Wangdu to die': 3 Idiots actor Omi Vaidya's emotional appeal for Sonam Wangchuk
Later, he also shared that Rancho's name was inspired by his classmate, whose name was inspired by his former FTII classmate, Phuntsok.
Rajkumar Hirani's story behind the character
In an interview with Komal Nahta, Hirani said that Aamir's character was inspired by a student in his film school, and how several incidents from his real life inspired 3 Idiots, and it would not be wrong to call it a curation of several of his life experiences.
''Aamir’s character was inspired by a student in our film school, whose name I can’t reveal. He wanted to become a filmmaker but couldn’t secure admission to FTII. At the same time, one of his friends got selected, but his father refused to let him join. So the student who didn’t get admission assumed his friend’s identity and studied filmmaking for three years. Nobody discovered the truth until graduation. When people told him he wouldn’t receive a certificate, he replied, ‘I never wanted one. I just wanted to learn filmmaking.’ That inspired me because education is not about certificates.”
