New Delhi: Aamir Khan Productions on Tuesday announced a documentary based on the lives of the parents of Sitaare Zameen Par actors. The production house released the trailer of the documentary on Instagram in the morning.
“You met the Sitaare. Now meet the reason they shine,” read the caption of the post.
Titled Sitaaron Ke Sitaare, the documentary explores the challenges parents face while raising children with special needs. It is directed by Shaanib Bakshi.
“In our country, people hide children with special needs. If you show them on screen, who will watch it,” says a voiceover. Then things changed when Aamir Khan Productions reached out to the parents for the film. It meant their children would be known to everyone in the country.
The trailer begins with a montage of the parents of the neurodivergent individuals talking about their marriage. The conversation then moves to how their lives changed when their children were diagnosed, and how even the doctors were insensitive toward them.
“Society, teachers, doctors — they all made us feel small,” says a mother in the video, as another talks of the long wait, not knowing if her child would ever speak like other children of his age.
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‘The real stars’
Sitaare Zameen Par released on 20 June and is directed by RS Prasanna, who also directed Shubh Mangal Saavdhan (2017). But instead of a theatrical release, Aamir Khan decided to make the film available for rent on a pay-per-view basis on YouTube. Despite the unusual release, the film earned Rs 267.34 crore worldwide.
The production house termed it a spiritual successor to Khan’s 2007 hit Taare Zameen Par. The film follows the story of Gulshan (Aamir Khan), a temperamental basketball coach who is sentenced to community service after a brush with the cops. He finds himself coaching a team of neurodivergent individuals. While reluctant at first, Gulshan eventually undergoes a transformation and forms a bond with the players after knowing them better.
It is an official remake of Javier Fesser’s Spanish 2018 film Campeones, which was also remade in Hollywood as Champions (2023).
The casting of the film was done by Tess Joseph, who went through a rigorous process of learning and unlearning, while interacting with the people part of the movie.
The trailer of the documentary also features Aamir Khan. “You try not to get attached to them. But you end up forming a bond anyway. For me, the parents are the real stars,” says the actor.
(Edited by Aamaan Alam Khan)