Rajkumar Hirani’s old video about 3 Idiots role inspired by FTII Man goes viral
After Aamir Khan denied that 3 Idiots’ Phunsukh Wangdu was based on Sonam Wangchuk, an old video of filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani has gone viral. In the revived clip, Hirani says that the character was inspired by a man who secretly studied at FTII using someone else’s credentials.
An old video of filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani explaining the inspiration behind this 3 idiots‘The iconic character Phunsukh Wangdu has gone viral on social media. The clip resurfaced after actor Aamir Khan rejected the long-held belief that the character is based on environmentalist, activist and teacher Sonam Wangchuk, who has been on a hunger strike for 20 days. In the video, Hirani revealed that Wangdu was actually inspired by a real-life person who had secretly enrolled in the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) under the identity of another student.
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This clip is from film trade analyst Komal Nahta’s February 2025 podcast.
As shown in the video, Hirani says, “Aamir (Khan) We have taken the character of FTTI from FTTI. I can’t take the name. He is a character who wanted to become a filmmaker, but did not get admission in a film institute.”
He further talks about the similarities between the storylines. Hirani adds, “Another friend of his got admission, but his father did not let him go. The father said, ‘You will not go into cinema, you will become an engineer.’
The filmmaker further adds, “So this man went to the institute using another person’s admission and started living there. We didn’t come to know about it. After passing out from college, we came to know that he had a different name. He said, ‘I have come to get the certificate, I wanted to learn cinema, I learned it..’ This is a true story. That character is character.”
The clip resurfaces after Aamir Khan addressed the long-running speculations linking Phunsukh Wangdu with Sonam Wangchuk.
Speaking at a British Film Institute event in England on Thursday, the actor said the claim was false and that neither he nor the film’s producers knew Wangchuk when they made it. 3 idiots.
In response to a question, Khan said, “No, no.” This is a misconception. When we were doing the film, I did not know about Mr. Sonam at that time. 3 idiots. I know I recently watched a video of Chatur (Omi Vaidya). He is wrong. Perhaps this is what the clever one is thinking. Neither Raju nor Abhijat Joshi, who were the two writers, nor I – we did not know about Mr. Sonam. However, what Mr. Sonam is doing is good in any case. It does not need to be based on the character of 3 idiots We should respect him.”
For years, many people believed that Phunsukh Wangdu was inspired by Sonam Wangchuk. The debate reignited after US-based actor Omi Vaidya, who played Chatur 3 idiotsrecently expressed support for Wangchuk and claimed that the character was based on him. Vaidya also shared pictures with the worker on social media.
Sonam Wangchuk is making headlines for her indefinite hunger strike at Jantar Mantar organized by the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), which started on June 28. The protest demanded the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the alleged NEET paper leak. Despite reports of his deteriorating health, Wangchuk has continued his fast and is receiving support from several politicians and Bollywood celebrities.