Khan made the comment at the London Indian Film Festival,right after a screening of Lagaan,when someone in the crowd brought up the old rumor that Rancho was modeled on Wangchuk.He said neither he nor director Rajkumar Hirani nor writer Abhijat Joshi knew anything about the education reformer from Ladakh back when they shot the film in 2009. Millions believed otherwise for years, and Wangchuk has spent nearly three weeks on a hunger strike now,since June 28,which made the timing of Khan's denial land badly for a lot of people. The 2009 film, based on a Chetan Bhagat novel,turned into one of the biggest Bollywood hits of its decade. Wangchuk himself has said before that the film was never meant as his biopic,just loosely inspired by his life.Congress leader Sanjay Jha didn't hold back either,joking on social media that the 1982 film Gandhi must not be based on Mahatma Gandhi then, since that's apparently how this logic works.Which is a fair point, honestly.
RJD MP Manoj Jha and former Congress leader Husain Dalwai both asked why Khan waited this long to say something,with Dalwai wondering aloud if fear of the government had something to do with it. And social media users split down the middle,some calling him a coward for staying quiet on Wangchuk's health, others saying the Rancho connection was always more rumor than fact anyway. Khan did add that he respects the work Wangchuk does regardless of whether the character was based on him,and said he's worried about the activist's health. Wangchuk, still on his hunger strike after nearly three weeks, hasn't responded publicly to Khan's remarks yet.
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