"All is not well." This was how Aamir Khan [follow Aamir khan on facebook] reacted today on seeing the condition of The Druk White Lotus School where the film star shot for his superhit 3 Idiots, tweaking the film's popular dialogue "Aal izz well" to reflect the ground situation.The school, which was damaged in the devastating cloudburst nearly two weeks ago, shot into the limelight after it was featured as Khan's character Rancho's school in the film. Khan, 45, has a special attachment with the school, about 15km from Leh on the Leh-Manali highway.
Khan, who rushed here at the first available opportunity, visited the school which suffered heavy damage owing to the cloudburst on the intervening night of August 5 and 6, and some other villages as far as 70km from Leh town.
Some 200 people perished in the flash floods that followed the cloudburst.
Asked if he would repeat the famous dialogue from 3 Idiots, "Aal izz well", Khan said, "All is not well. But for the sake of humanity one should help others. One should raise the morale of others."
The school, which has about 800 students on its rolls, had shot to fame after Khan's character in 3 Idiots, Ranchhoddas Shyamaldas Chanchad, a brilliant engineering student, is shown as having started a school in Ladakh.
"Actually the school is not Rancho's. It was set up by Fungsuk Wangdo, the real name of the character that I was playing in the film," Khan said.
Dressed in blue denims and a white T-shirt, Khan interacted with students at the school and took stock of the damage caused. He also appealed to people to donate freely to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund.
"It really pains me. I wish I had come in happier times," Khan, who undertook the day-long trip with the twelfth Gyalwang Druk Chen, chief of the Drukpa sect of Buddhism, told the Press Trust of India when asked how he felt visiting Leh after the disaster.
"One part of the country is suffering and it is our duty to help the people out," he said. "One should donate whatever one can within the best of his abilities to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund. The money for the rehabilitation is coming from that fund."
No one from the Druk school was injured in the disaster.
The actor said he, too, will donate a sum "well within my means" to the fund but did not disclose the exact amount.
He said he will also ask his Hindi film industry colleagues, once he goes back to Mumbai, to donate to the relief fund. "The film industry never shies away from helping out in national disasters," he said.
The actor, who was almost the ambassador for the district, said he will also donate to the school because he has a personal connection to it as his film was shot there though he himself never filmed in its premises.
He also appealed to people across the country to come and visit Leh which, he said, was like “paradise”.
"What has happened has happened. But things are being brought back to normal. Leh is mainly run by tourism and I would ask you not to drop plans of visiting this place because of the cloudburst. Even if you are planning to make a trip later, please come to Leh," he said.
"I am very sad that about 200 lives have been lost and over 10,000 houses have been damaged. My sincere condolences to all those who lost their lives,” he said.
Asked why no other members of the film unit had come with him, he said, "I spoke to Raju Hirani [the director]. He could not come but has promised all help. Actually, I am the only one who is not shooting and hence am here."
Khan had Shoaib Ahmed, a Std V student of Delhi Public School here, who played the young Rancho in the film, with him.
Asked if he wanted to grow up and become an actor like Khan, the boy said, "No. I want to be a scientist."
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