In August, Aamir Khan, Abhishek Bachchan, Aditi Rao Hydari, Jaideep Ahlawat and several others attended the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM), with photos and videos from the event quickly surfacing online. Comedian Sapan Verma hosted the awards night and has now shared a video of his opening monologue, where he roasted stars including Aamir, Malaika and Abhishek.
Sapan Verma roasts Aamir Khan
The video began with Sapan poking fun at Aamir Khan’s relentless promotion of Sitaare Zameen Par. He said, “Aamir Khan, as we all know, was so good this year in all the 450 interviews he did to promote Sitaare Zameen Par. Sir, you did so much promotion at one point, I was worried. My doorbell rang, I thought you had personally come to tell me to watch the film.”
He further joked about Aamir rejecting a ₹100 crore OTT deal and added, “Aamir sir made history, an iconic move. He has released this film directly on YouTube. I have heard that you declined an offer of more than ₹100 crore from an OTT platform for this move. ₹100 crore. You know what that means, right? Akshay Kumar’s monthly salary.”
Aamir indeed gave multiple interviews to promote Sitaare Zameen Par. Later, he announced that the film would not be released on any OTT platform. Reports suggested that he had turned down an offer of ₹120 crore from Amazon Prime Video for its digital rights. Eventually, Aamir released the film on YouTube, charging viewers ₹100.
Speaking about his decision, Aamir said, “This was the reason why I did not give away the rights of my film Sitaare Zameen Par, as this plan was in motion. Our plan is to release every film under the Aamir Khan Production banner on YouTube, after they complete their theatrical run. Each movie will be available at a minimal cost of ₹100.”
About Sitaare Zameen Par
Directed by RS Prasanna, the sports comedy-drama is a spiritual successor to Khan’s 2007 classic Taare Zameen Par. It stars Aamir Khan and Genelia Deshmukh in lead roles alongside 10 debutant actors, all of whom are specially abled. An official remake of the 2018 Spanish film Campeones, it follows a suspended basketball coach who must serve community service by helping a team of players with disabilities prepare for a tournament.
The film received positive reviews from both critics and audiences, emerging as a box-office success with earnings of ₹267.52 crore against a budget of ₹122 crore.
IFFM winners
At IFFM, Aamir Khan was honoured with the prestigious Excellence in Cinema Award. Neeraj Ghaywan’s Homebound won big, taking home both Best Film and Best Director. Abhishek Bachchan bagged Best Actor (Film) for I Want To Talk, while Jaideep Ahlawat won Best Actor (Series) for Paatal Lok Season 2.