The Spanish film Campeones (2018), directed and co-written by Javier Fesser, was based on a true story of a team made up of people with intellectual disabilities. Campeones inspired Bobby Farrelly’s Champions (2023) and now finds its way to India as Sitaare Zameen Par.

Directed by RS Prasanna, Campeones has been cut to fit its lead star Aamir Khan, whose saviour complex resulted in films like Taare Zameen Par, Dangal and Laal Singh Chaddha, in which he played a hero who not only helps characters realise their potential but also underlines the message for audiences to comprehend.

This approach worked particularly well for the dyslexia-themed Taare Zameen Par. Sitaare Zameen Par carries the thought further by having the protagonist interact not with one maladjusted child but with a bunch of players with autism and Down’s syndrome.

Khan plays Gulshan, a basketball coach with more complexes that he knows what to do with. His short stature bothers him; his father’s abandonment makes him avoid fatherhood. His marriage to Suneeta (Genelia Deshmukh) is falling apart when he is suspended from his job for hitting a senior and arrested for drunk driving. The judge gives Gulshan the punishment of community service – to coach a team of teens with special needs.

Gulshan walks into the institution, whose benevolent manager (Gurpal Singh) gives him gentle sermons...

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