‘It’s A Fairly Simple Experiment’

Aamir, when you converted the Spanish film Champions into an Indian Hindi film, why basketball? Because basketball is not such a popular game in India.

Yes, yes, you’re right. Well, the original had basketball. That is one. So we started with basketball. We did experiment with a couple of choices. We thought that because we are showing that it’s a team of neurodivergent players. So if the game is very complex, then usually neurodivergent people would not enter that space of that game. So, basketball is a game where you know, you have to bounce the ball and you have to put it in a basket. It’s a fairly simple requirement. You know, in terms of what you’re supposed to do. Now, we thought of one alternative, to be honest.

Football?

No, not football, not football. Kabaddi, because Kabaddi is a very Indian game. Yeah, but Kabaddi, you know, they are, they are, they are specially abled people. Playing Kabaddi would have been a little difficult. The reason we did not go with Kabaddi finally is because Kabaddi is a body contact sport. And you see, a lot of them are averse to, you know, pushing and shoving and grabbing and pulling the leg and all that. It doesn’t come naturally to them. It’s a very rugged game. It’s a rugged game. Body contact. Which is why we dropped that idea, just to tell you, since you asked, I mean, it’s a, it’s an unusual question to ask, you know. But we did, we did first try and see if we can put in another game, which would connect better with Indians. But then we, we dropped all of that and stuck to basketball. Because of these reasons, you know, we said that, let it be the original what, yeah, Kabaddi would have made it more popular. Because everyone in India plays Kabaddi.

I don’t know, I have never played Kabaddi, have you?

Well, I have, you know, in school and all that, you know, it’s a, it’s like a national sport in many ways. It is, it’s considered a national sport. But anyway, basketball did bring in a sense of unusualness into the whole.

Was there a bond beyond the camera with these neuro-challenged heroes?

I’m very close to all of them, all of the ten heroes, as you call them, are very close to me. I had a great working relationship with all ten of them. And I have to say that having worked for thirty-five years now, uh, I’ve worked up until now, typically I’ve worked with neurotypical actors. This was the first time I was working with ten neurodivergent actors. And I have to say the experience was mind blowing, mind blowing.

Why is that?

Because you see, they don’t have any ego. They don’t come with any preconceived heart, a pure heart. They come, they’re joyful. They’re happy to be on set. They’re happy to be working on a film. Their energy is very infectious. I’m very close to all of them.