‘Aamir stole my idea for Taare Zameen Par’

Mathematical genius Shakuntala Devi said Aamir Khan Productions stole ideas from her book, In the wonderland of numbers for Shakuntala Devi in Beijing. (TOI Photo by Saibal Dasgupta) Bollywood flick Taare Zameen Par without giving her credit for it. She is now planning to produce her own movie based on the story in the book.

The 69-year-old wizard and author of 22 books, who has been stunning audiences across the world since childhood when she first displayed her flair for numbers, is on a world tour to accomplish a dream project. She is in the process of setting up a global institution on mathematics that will train young minds and do research in Vedic Mathematics.

“Some of the things shown in Taare Zameen Par have been taken straight from my book. People ask me why I don’t sue the producer of the Aamir Khan movie,” she told TNN. “I expect him to write a letter explaining why he did this,” she said.

Shakuntala Devi revealed some amazing facts during the interview with TNN in Beijing. One of them is that no information technology company has ever tried to involve her in any mathematical project. This is interesting given her worldwide popularity and India’s strength in the IT industry.

“I have lots of readers from the IT industry. But no IT company has approached me so far,” she said. “I am computer illiterate, you know” she further said. But the institution that she is in the process of establishing in Bangalore, will conduct research on mathematics related to computer, she said.

Shakuntala Devi is worried that the advent of computers is harming the thinking ability of children, who are increasing losing interest in mathematics. “Mathematics has already lost its popularity in the West. Now, I feel this is happening in India as well,” she said. READ AT TIMES OF INDIA

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