Ayushmann Khurrana talks about his equation with the city
Harshada Rege (DNA; August 3, 2016)


Chandigarh vs Mumbai
“I must say that I discovered that there’s more to Mumbai than just Bollywood. That was also the first time I saw a beach (Juhu beach). I was overwhelmed when I saw the ocean for the first time. The one thing that I noticed was that it had so many cultures. Chandigarh is just Punjab and nothing else. I moved to Mumbai in 2007. Once I moved here, the one thing I realised is that the people in Mumbai are very non-judgmental. In the north, there’s a lot of show-off... People judge you by which car you use, what brand you are wearing. In Mumbai it doesn’t matter whether you are using public transport or you are driving in luxury cars. People here will judge you for the person you are, tum jo kaam karte ho usse log tumhe pehchante hain...that’s such a great quality that the city has"

Buddy baatein
“When I first came here, I stayed illegally in a hostel. A friend of mine was studying to be a doctor, he was staying in a hostel so I lived with him for a month. Rajeshwari and Varun Badola supported me for a month. I am glad that I had good friends in the city. Now I have many friends, not just from the industry, but from different walks of life. It’s great to have friends who are from outside the industry, their perspective of life is very different and very real.”

Only in Mumbai
“I am always grateful to be from Chandigarh because my family is there, and it’s greener. It’s healthier to live there. Apart from that, this is now home. Mumbai depicts life in its entirety. This is the only place — probably in the world — where you will see slums right next to a five-star hotel...but that’s life! You will never see that in Delhi or Chandigarh. It makes you see life in a very pragmatic way because there’s no difference between people. People from different strata of society travel together in the trains... that happens only in Mumbai.”

The city’s spirit
“Initially, when I was new to the city, I used to travel by autos. I used to talk to auto drivers often and everyone had a story to tell. Everyone in Mumbai has a story to tell. And I am a good listener. Rather than speaking, I listen a lot. I miss that today. In my initial days of struggle, I used to meet people while travelling or sitting at a place or chatting to the autowallah or having a chai and talking with the chaiwallah or even talking to the watchman of the building... Diversity is the spirit of the city. Acceptance is the spirit of the city. People are accepting and adjusting. We may complain that the roads are dirty, the city is unclean, which is true, but it is accepting of everyone. It is a massively populated city, we are adjusting to various things like pollution and traffic, and yet we are happy.”

My fav places
“Among the places that I love are Carter Road, Marine Drive and the Worli Seaface. I visit these places once in a while. I park my car and just sit there for an hour or two thinking about life. I often compare Mumbai to the vastness of the ocean. It’s haunting and inspiring at the same time. When I saw the ocean for the first time in 2002, I was overwhelmed.”

What we need to change
“The one thing that we need to change is the standard of cleanliness. After coming to the city, I realised for the first time that people take off their shoes when they enter their houses. That never happened in Chandigarh. We just enter with our shoes. Even in the gym, here you have to carry a different set of shoes. They won’t allow you to wear the shoes that you have walked in with. That only happens in Mumbai because it’s so dirty outside. We should realise that we take so much pains to keep our houses clean, it’s our responsibility to also keep the surroundings clean. We don’t allow dirty shoes in the house because we want to keep our house spick-and-span. I think we should treat the city as our home and keep it as spick-and-span.”