You can almost always count on two things while seeing an Aamir Khan film: honesty and compassion. That was the superstar’s goal when he went out to pursue Sitaare Zameen Par, who saw him as a basketball coach with a bad temper who is tasked with training players with special needs. We now know that Khan and director RS Prasanna chose the actors for the slice-of-life movie from among the pupils at Urja Special School in Kandivali, a counseling and remedial facility for kids and adults with special needs.

Dr. Mihir Parekh, a child psychologist, and his wife, the administrator, established the school in 2010. “The [makers] had certain prerequisites for children and adults — they had to have Down Syndrome, with a particular height and weight,” Parekh recalls, referring to the fact that the producers were seeking pupils who were older than 18. Out of my 168 pupils, 38 were chosen. Others played the part of spectators who had come to witness the games, while others played the role of team members. All of the scenes with my schoolchildren were filmed in Mumbai, including Andheri and Bandra.

Sitaare Zameen Par, an adaptation of the Spanish film Campeones (2018), depicts Khan’s protagonist’s journey from early skepticism about his basketball team to an understanding of their individual gifts. Parekh claims that since basketball is a major theme in the narrative, certain pupils were chosen based on how well they played the game. The pupils participated in a week-long preparation session prior to the start of the filming. The manufacturers were also presented to their parents,” Parekh continues. Over the course of a month, the students shot with the unit and received compensation.