Why Aamir Khan bought Sony’s share of Sitaare Zameen Par for Rs 30 cr, only for film’s quiet return on SonyLIV 8 months later

However, Aamir had chosen even a shorter window, of just six weeks, between the theatrical release of Sitaare Zameen Par on June 20, 2025 and its YouTube premiere on August 1, 2025. He claimed that the audience interested to watch the film had to still pay a nominal fees of Rs 100 to access the film for a limited time on YouTube, instead of watching it for free on a streaming platform, which they’ve already paid the subscription fees of.

Cost vs return on YouTube

But Aamir’s road to getting his film released on YouTube came with a fair share of costs. Sony was already attached to Sitaare Zameen Par as a producing partner, with around 25% stake as opposed to 75% of Aamir Khan Productions. Sitaare Zameen Par was probably always supposed to be SonyLIV’s maiden feature release after its theatrical run. But Aamir opting for the YouTube route denied Sony both the chance to secure it as its streaming platform’s first film release and the opportunity to earn in dozens of crores by selling the streaming rights to a third party.

Aamir, speaking on the podcast The Town with Matthew Belloni last year, admitted that his producing partner wasn’t pleased with his rather “rash decision” to bypass the streaming model. So, in order to claim full rights of Sitaare Zameen Par, he had to pay back Sony the investment of around Rs 25 crore to Rs 30 crore that the studio had invested in the film’s production.

Aamir had already invested Rs 96 crore from his end in Sitaare Zameen Par. After buying it out from Sony, the total cost of production went up to Rs 122 crore to Rs 133 crore. Aamir claimed that the YouTube revenue distribution of reportedly 55%-45% was more profitable than the traditional theatrical system of 50%-50%. He also claimed that the business from releasing Sitaare Zameen Par on a pay-per-view model fetched him 20 times the “normal business” of typical YouTube releases, with the platform also pitching in the marketing costs.

But the exact earnings from the YouTube release remain a mystery as Aamir claimed he wasn’t allowed to share the figures, as per his deal with YouTube. While he claimed he’d recovered his share of production cost through the box office earnings, his personal investment of around Rs 25 crore to Rs 30 crore depended entirely on the YouTube revenue. He also said in the podcast that he was now open to negotiating with streaming platforms.

Besides that figure, the opportunity cost of Sitaare Zameen Par was far higher for Aamir, as he’d reportedly turned down streaming rights offers from top OTT giants, worth as much as Rs 125 crore. That would’ve not only recovered the cost Aamir had to pay Sony, but also fetched him a profit of around Rs 90 crore to Rs 100 crore. But Aamir insisted he preferred the Rs 100 each from his audience over Rs 125 crore from an OTT platform.

Return of Sitaare Zameen Par to SonyLIV

Over seven months after the release of Sitaare Zameen Par on YouTube, Aamir would’ve gotten a fair idea of the magnitude and pace of returns from the innovative revenue model. Since he’s now sold the streaming rights to SonyLIV, it’s likely that he’s yet to recover the amount he paid to Sony for acquiring full rights of the film.

Also Read: Aamir Khan’s Sitaare Zameen Par moves beyond the ‘private cinema’ experiment for major OTT debut

It’s unclear how much SonyLIV has paid Aamir for the streaming rights, given the nine-month gap between the theatrical release and the OTT release, almost five times the conventional eight-week window. While the exact commercials are yet to be ascertained, it’s safe to say that Aamir surely disrupted the theatrical-streaming nexus through the YouTube revenue model. Aamir clearly played a longer game with the phased distribution of Sitaare Zameen Par, since he’s yet to sell the film’s satellite rights.