For Ayushmann Khurrana, 2019 was the year of celebrations. Just after receiving the National award for his intense performance in Andha Dhun, his new releases Dream Girl and Bala are big hits. To take a peek at his dream career I caught up with the Everyman Actor…
How empowered did you feel after receiving the National award for Andha Dhun?
Quite empowered! It felt it was a validation for all the work that I’ve done so far. It was an endorsement of all the appreciation that I’ve received from the audience and critics.
Were you surprised by the National award?
I wasn’t thinking about it. To be quite honest I thought I might get a National award for my very first film Vicky Donor. The subject was revolutionary—sperm donation—and the film was widely appreciated. I remember Anu Kapoor Sir got the National award. I didn’t. I expected to get it.
How cocky of you!
I know! My first film!! I was naïve. After that, I stopped thinking about the National award. I just picked up scripts that were quirky and out of the box.
How do you decide what to pick?
It is a problem. The scripts I get are phenomenal. But I have criteria. For one, it has to be something never attempted in the Hindi cinema.
You are playing a homosexual. How is that experience?
I love posing challenges for myself. Luckily I am getting scripts that are so out of the box that the challenges keep multiplying. And I say, bring them on. I’d love to do every film and every character that hasn’t been done before.
How many of these can you do?
Exactly. There’s only one of me. At the same time, I feel there is so much diversity in our society that needs to be explored. Every five years there’s a socio-cultural shift. What is relevant today is no longer relevant five years from now. These shifting dynamics of society forever in flux needs to be explored by cinema.
And you seem to be doing quite a job of it?
I am trying. But let’s not forget that conventional cinema would never go out of fashion. I’d love to do a Rohit Shetty film. I grew up watching masala films. And I love the Golmaal series.
You’ve now joined the 100-crore club. Did you expect Dream Girl and Bala to become such big hits?
I’d be lying if I said didn’t. When the scripts were narrated to me I was rolling with laughter. So yeah, I was sure they were going to be 100-plus crore films.
The voice of your character Pooja was supposed to be dubbed by Priyanka Chopra?
We wanted my character’s female voice to be genuinely seductive and not fake. At the same time, it had to be authentic since the voice was the crux. So we finally settled on doing it in my own voice. The director Raaj Shandilya knew I had done blank calls as an RJ. So he was open to the idea of me dubbing my own female voice. At the same time, we also kept the option of getting a big-name female voice to do the dubbing. We also tried dubbing artistes. I remember I was shooting for Bala when I heard some of these dubbing artistes who could dub my female lines in Dream Girl. I realized they won’t work in a comedy. It had to be my own voice. I dubbed the entire female portion on my own. Getting the nuances to be pitch-perfect was really hard work.
And you were wonderful in character?
The lines were also magical. There was magic in every dialogue. The lines had a punchline and I just had to pitch them correctly.
Did Diana Penty react well to the joke on her surname?
She did! She took it most sportingly.
Among all your films this year, which is your favorite?
I think Article 15 is really special. We extracted this film out of Anubhav Sinha. He wanted to make a romcom with me. I was a Mulk fan. I wanted him to do something in that political space with me. When I heard the idea of Article 15 I knew that was it. I empathized with the underprivileged and I was aware of how deeply the caste system affected our social fabric. I was very very confident about both Article 15 and Dream Girl.
Why is that?
I knew Article 15 would be a huge critical success. But I wasn’t sure about how much money it would earn at the box-office. That is actually made Rs 65 crores was a big thing for the subject as grim as Article 15. On the other hand, Dream Girl had me apprehensive about my core audience, the multiplex demography. I knew it was a messy film and the single-theatre crowds would love it. I didn’t want the intelligentsia to feel I had gone crass. After all, I am meant to be the thinking person’s actor. That the multiplexes have taken to Dream Girl in such a big way is a big thing for me in spite of some off-color jokes.
So Dream Girl has given you a chance to have your cake and eat it too?
Dream Girl was my first opportunity to win over the single-theatre audience. That they have accepted me and so has my core audience, means I now have an audience on both sides of the fence. This year has been a very special year because I have been able to break through into what was not regarded as my audience.
Now you have Bala?
Believe me, audiences will really identify with the theme of premature baldness. Bala is clearly a family film. Unlike say, Shubh Mangal Savdhan or Vicky Donor which addressed adult sexual issues Bala is about baldness. Nothing is hidden about it. 40 percent of Indian men suffer from a receding hairline after 30.
You have opened up a pandora’s box?
That’s the fun of it. The whole idea is to do cinema that has never been done before. I want to touch on a taboo topic in every film of mine. I hope I am able to do this. Article 15 was my way of giving back to society what I’ve received. By addressing issues such as casteism and social inequality I had hoped to create an awareness of how deep these problems run.
And now in Shubh Mangal Zyada Savdhaan, you are doing the first gay love story of Indian cinema where the gender of the two lovers doesn’t matter?
That’s right. When you see the love story you will see two people in love. How does it matter whether it is two men or two women or a man and a woman in love? Love is such a beautiful feeling no matter who is in it and how you see it.
Why does your film with Mr. Bachchan have such a strange title Gulabo Sitabo?
It’s a folk tale about two warring sisters and Mr. Bachchan and I are constantly at loggerheads in the film. Yeah, we fight all the time (laughs). Bachchan Saab is a thorough professional. He is 75. But he is 25 in his head. I hope I remain as enthusiastic when I reach that age.
Are you worried about the burden of living up to audiences’ expectations of doing something different in all your films?
It’s a happy burden. I am glad the audience has expectations of me. It’s better than having no expectations. It empowers me.
What about your singing? Has that taken a backseat?
Not at all. I love singing. I try to sing one song in every film that I act in. But yes, I am first an actor, then a singer.
