Comedian Sapan Verma hosted the night of the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM) in August. In the gathering were Aamir Khan, Abhishek Bachchan, Aditi Rao Hydari, Jaideep Ahlawat, and several other notable personalities from Bollywood. In a string of jokes, he took the creative liberty to roast the industry with his signature style.

He spoke about an array of events that happened in Bollywood over the year. From Aamir Khan‘s deal with YouTube to release Sitaare Zameen Par for Rs 100 to Akshay Kumar’s notorious frequency of releasing films. Sapan Verma truly brought his bit of comedic genius to the stage.

Aamir Khan’s promotion of Sitaare Zameen Par

Aamir Khan released Sitaare Zameen Par, his second film after the blockbuster hit Taare Zameen Par. Addressing several societal issues, the film came out in June 2025. Joking about Khan’s multiple efforts to promote the film using all means possible, Sapan Verma said, “Aamir Khan, as we all know, was so good this year in all the 450 interviews he did to promote Sitaare Zameen Par. Sir, you did so much promotion at one point, I was worried. My doorbell rang, I thought you had personally come to tell me to watch the film.”

Addressing the elephant in the room, and no, it wasn’t Sitaare Zameen Par’s Rs 266 crore worldwide box office collection. Verma was quick to point out Khan’s decision to reject the OTT deal with Amazon. He remarked, “Aamir sir made history, an iconic move. He has released this film directly on YouTube. I have heard that you declined an offer of more than ₹100 crore from an OTT platform for this move. Rs 100 crore. You know what that means, right? Akshay Kumar’s monthly salary.”

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Gathering laughs from his audience, Khan reportedly turned down a Rs 120 crore deal from Amazon Prime Video for its digital streaming rights. Opening about his decision to release Sitaare Zameen Par on YouTube, Aamir had previously revealed that his team plans to release all Aamir Khan Productions’ films on the open streaming platform, after they complete their theatrical run.

In his monologue, Sapan Verma also made a humorous remark on the recession. He pointed out how a stand-up comic was hosting a Bollywood award show, and joked how it meant the recession was truly there. He noted, “Next time they might call an influencer.”