Filmmaker R.S. Prasanna is living his dream come true scenario—to direct the Aamir Khan-starrer’s Taare Zameen Par spiritual sequel, Sitaare Zameen Par. In 2007, Prasanna, a film student, looked on as he watched Khan clinch the Best Debut Director award at the Gollapudi Srinivas Award. And now, almost two decades later, he stands behind the camera to helm the sequel starring the man who inspired him.
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"I remember bawling my eyes out while watching Taare Zameen Par with my friends, and my then-girlfriend, now wife,” the filmmaker said in a conversation with PTI.
Prasanna is best known for the Tamil rom-com Kalyana Samayal Saadham and its Hindi remake Shubh Mangal Saavdhan. It was after the release of the latter that Khan reached out to the 41-year-old director.
The filmmaker recalled the conversation. "I was very emotional and I said, Sir, thank you for making me believe that dreams do come true'. This is not even a dream I dreamt. It was such a big thing that I didn't even dare to dream of this,” Prasanna recounted.
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Since then, the filmmaker vowed that if a good script idea was to come, then he would pass it on to Khan. Inklings of collaboration emerged years later when Prasanna decided to make his next with writer Divy Nidhi Sharma. Khan was a clear choice.
"As a fan of his, I would want him to do this movie. I thought, If he is the only choice for it, then maybe this movie will never happen' because why is he going to say yes to a random director whom he doesn't even know, he has just seen one film? But he did, and I'm eternally indebted to him for that,” he said.
This gave fruit to Sitaare Zameen Par, slated to hit theatres on June 20.
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During a wrap party for the film, Prasanna recalls thanking Khan for the opportunity. “This movie is like a fan boy's love letter to his idol... It is a film that entertains, makes you think, touches your heart and above all, I think it's a film that places so much faith in the audience.”
Sitaare Zameen Par is a remake of the Spanish film Champions. Aside from Khan, the film stars Genelia Deshmukh and ten specially-abled newcomers, including Aroush Datta, Gopi Krishna Varma, Samvit Desai, and Vedant Sharma.
