RS Prasanna on Sitaare Zameen Par and the thrill of directing Aamir Khan

RS Prasanna’s journey to Bollywood began not in a film school but in the front row of a cinema hall. A lifelong fan, he never imagined he would one day direct Aamir Khan — the actor whose performances in Lagaan and Taare Zameen Par had once moved him deeply.

“We were having food together, sitting on the floor,” he recalls of their first meeting. “Within fifteen minutes, I felt like — is it really Aamir sir? He made me quite comfortable and was open to let me say anything to him.”

“For me, cinema has always been from the point of view of the audience,” he says. “I never thought that one day I would get to direct Aamir sir after having seen all his films as an audience.”

Guided by Aamir Khan

Prasanna made his Hindi debut with Shubh Mangal Saavdhan (2017) and now returns with Sitaare Zameen Par, a remake of the 2018 Spanish film Champions. In early discussions, he often circled back to Taare Zameen Par.

“I would keep torturing him with questions — how certain scenes were filmed, how the songs came in. One day, he said Sitaare Zameen Par also belongs in the same emotional landscape. ‘Why don’t we make it sound similar? The audience will know what they are in for.’”

“I feel very lucky to have worked with Aamir Khan,” says Prasanna. “He’s a guardian of cinema, a guiding presence. No matter how much we praise him, he brushes it off — but his influence is immense.”

Now on a six-month break, he is “meeting filmmakers, reading, and learning” — content to be a student again.

“As we move into an AI-driven world, human creativity will become even more valuable. Just as handwoven craft is now a luxury, films made with genuine storytelling will be cherished. Cinema is about balance — bringing your voice into a story that resonates with society. You never know before release how it will be received; that’s the excitement and the fear, like confessing love without knowing the answer.”

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For him, the essence remains the same: “Cinema is celebration — of emotions, joy, and humanity. Whatever the genre, it should leave the audience engaged and moved.”

The emotional connect

Prasanna believes films endure when they touch viewers. “I’ve loved so many — Sujata, Piku, Dum Laga Ke Haisha. As a filmmaker, I’m first a fan. When a film inspires me, we should celebrate it.”

Success, he adds, is not always immediate. “Guna ran only a few months and was called a failure. I think it simply didn’t reach its audience. Decades later, it holds a special place in people’s hearts — that’s success.”

Festivals as laboratories

“Film festivals, television, YouTube — all these platforms help a film live on,” he says. For him, festivals are “Research and Development labs for filmmakers” where one can watch diverse films, meet people, and exchange ideas.

He feels the line between ‘festival’ and ‘commercial’ cinema is blurring. “Mainstream films borrow from art-house cinema, and many festival films are entertaining and accessible. The rhythms differ, but both have beauty.”

Bringing cinema to classrooms

Prasanna wants filmmaking to be part of school education. “I’ve been speaking to my old school in Chennai about starting a small film festival. If we teach filmmaking early, in five to ten years we could see incredible writers, directors, actors, and composers. Children are already film critics — they analyse Avengers and Batman, compare sequels. If we don’t teach them, they’ll teach us.”

On Sitaare Zameen Par, he saw how language is no barrier. “One key actor, Gopi, didn’t know a word of Hindi — we communicated through Tamil and Malayalam translations — yet his performance was brilliant. The language of emotion is universal.”

A taste of Delhi

Prasanna has filmed both Shubh Mangal Saavdhan and Sitaare Zameen Par in Delhi. “I love Delhi’s vegetarian food — aloo chaat, chowmein, spicy chutney. I remember shooting a scene with chowmein during Shubh Mangal Savdhan; in the break, the team brought me some. It combined my two loves — cinema and food.”