Happening star Ayushmann Khurrana on a hot streak breaks down his craft and shares how he took the quirky route and barged into Bollywood's coveted Rs 100-crore club
Mayank Shekhar (MID-DAY; December 20, 2018)

Firstly, why are you Ayushmann? Shouldn't it be Ayush-man, or Ayush-maan?
If your dad's an astrologer, you have no option but to be born with these spellings! I did not change the spelling, before becoming an actor.

And I believe he changed your name from Nishant, to begin with?
Yes, I was three at the time. I think I'm also the oldest Ayushmann in the world. Now, I see kids who are five or six, named Ayushmann, but none older.

While you're an accomplished lead actor now, someone clearly thought you had a face for radio, which is how you began your career, as an RJ!
(Laughs) I have evolved so much, not just as an actor, but also how I look. You only have to see my pictures [from much younger] — I used to have braces, crooked teeth, used to wear glasses, and was quite a nerd.

So it's radio, Roadies, then a sportscaster on IPL, you had done the full round before your first film.
I always wanted to be an actor but was pretty sure nobody would launch me. Television was a decent route though. I became a VJ on MTV. By default, every VJ gets a chance to be an actor. I had said no to at least five to six films before Vicky Donor (2012).

Do you remember reading any lousy scripts back then?
There was a script called KLPD: Kisses, Love, Pizza and Dhoka. It was a sex comedy. So, I went to Bangkok for a shoot that never started. There was some production locha, we came back. While I was there, I realised, something is off. I was 24. It was this weird story of four couples who fall in love with each other.

What is about filmmakers that they look at you and associate you in some odd way with [stories about] sex?
It's the innocence, the earnestness. I give the clean vibe. That's what Shoojit Sircar told me, when I asked him why he chose me for a sperm donor's role. Do I look like one? And he was like, 'You just look very sanitised.' He said you give a clean vibe, ki achcha ladka hai. Sanskari hai.

You got your first film role, with Shoojit Sircar's Vicky Donor, without a screen test. And your last role, in Sriram Raghavan's Andhadhun, is the first time you auditioned for a part. How did that happen?
I was hosting shows on MTV and Shoojit sir was like, I just want you to be as you are as a VJ: the loud Punjabi guy. So, I did not audition for the part of Vicky Donor. With the last film [Andhadhun], I got to know that he [Sriram Raghavan] had not short-listed anybody for that role. I got to know the one-liner from [casting agent] Mukesh Chhabbra. And I texted him [Raghavan]. He said this is not a slice-of-life film. I said that's why I have come to you. I always wanted to do a thriller, and was getting scripts as well. But, I wanted to work with Sriram Raghavan, because I'm a huge fan-boy.

Fan-boy because of?
Ek Hasina Thi (2004) — that transformed Saif [Ali Khan] for me. Badlapur (2015) transformed Varun [Dhawan] for me. And I wanted my transformation with him. Glad that happened.

Speaking of mentors, the idea of the Godfather has dramatically changed in showbiz. Would you consider MTV as the first, and then Yash Raj as the second?
I would call Shoojit Sircar and Aditya Chopra as my two mentors; and on TV, there was [producer] Siddhartha Basu, who gave me my first TV show, India's Got Talent. He [Basu] gave me a lot of training, to work on my diction and other aspects as an anchor. Similarly, we had lots of workshops for Vicky Donor, because I had been hosting for four-five years, and had to unlearn a lot of stuff, like looking into the camera, for instance. I had to ignore the camera, for a change, and become an actor. So I went to MK Sharma's Act One [in Delhi].

How did Aditya Chopra and you meet?
That was during Bewakoofiyaan (2014). I was not interested in that film and had issues with the script. I told him that I wanted to do this film [only] because I wanted to get into Yash Raj. I asked him why can't you [Yash Raj] manage me anyway? He said, no, you have to do a film with us; then we can manage you. Dum Laga Ke Haisha (2015) was offered to me a month after Bewakoofiyaan started. I was really excited about it. And he [Chopra] was surprised, because it was not a "hero wali" film. He said people won't like you in the first half. And I was okay with that. The script was so unique. After both films released, he began respecting me. He was like, you have an eye for scripts. Sometimes, he bounces certain scripts off me, just to have me read them.

What, according to you, is a good script sense?
I think I should relate to it first. Sometimes, I feel I'm the audience. Most people think audience will like it, even if you don't. But you have to be the audience, to begin with. This thought comes from my theatre background, because we used to write our own scripts. We did street theatre, which is meant to be dark and content-based. But we started making entertaining street plays.

Like singing, dancing, instead of activism, on the streets?
We would have guitars, percussions, so it was like a fun fair. We would do it anywhere — marketplace, college, university. There was a chant, something like, 'Zor se bolo, natak dekho. Saare bolo, DAV ka natak dekho.' DAV was our college. There was a saafa [turban cloth] spread out, and everyone would give money.

You also made money from passengers on college train trips from Chandigarh.
Frankly, most of the kids were from well-off families, so doing this was fun. We'd come to IIT Powai every year in second class sleeper train, sponsored by college. We'd play guitar, dholak, sing retro songs for passengers. I remember one person gave us Rs 500, and we were like kaun hai yeh aadmi? (Laughs). One of our Goa trips after Mood Indigo got sponsored this way.

Glad you said you're from a well-off family. Assuming you haven't slept on Mumbai streets, because everyone from Amitabh Bachchan to Shah Rukh Khan has that exact same story!
Well, we did once miss our train to Goa, and we had to stay the night on Mumbai Central. So yes, station pe soye thhe! I could afford a hotel room, but not for all my friends. It's not that I have a sob story. I came to Mumbai on a plane. Since I didn't have a place, I stayed with a friend in KEM Hospital's hostel. I would go to give auditions, but while coming and going out of the hostel, I'd wear a laboratory coat so no one catches me.



Most traditional Indian parents force their kids to study medicine, engineering. Your father forced you to come to Mumbai and become an actor.
Well, I took sciences in high school, cleared a dental college exam in Karnataka and when I went there, I realised I won't be able to do it. So, I came back to Chandigarh to study arts. After journalism, I thought of taking a sabbatical for two years, because I was not satisfied with myself as an actor. My father told me to go out there [to Mumbai] and learn on the job. He said there is no wrong time to do the right thing.

Now in this nepotism argument, a point that people miss is that there could be such a thing as new fame and old fame. Being from a famous family could just make it easier to deal with fame, because you've already closely seen the ups and downs. You went to an all boys' school, college, became a superstar with your first film, suddenly when there is so much female attention, for instance; did it shake you up?
That happened to me when I was 18. I was on the second season of a reality show called Pop Stars on Channel V, which was won by a group called Asma. I was the first back-up singer for that band; the only one from Chandigarh. I had suddenly become a star in the first year of college. Mera dimaag kharab ho gaya tha! I was getting attention from girls, apart from my girlfriend. I broke up with my girlfriend then, now wife [Tahira Kashyap]. One year after that was disastrous for me, because nothing happened. Then, I realised this is all fickle. Later, Roadies happened, when I was more mature. So I got exposed to these things early in life. And it wasn't sudden fame after Vicky Donor either. It was gradual. Yes, I did have marital issues after Vicky Donor, since everyone wanted a piece of me. As an RJ and VJ, I would work for around 12 days, and the rest were free. So, I had a lot of time for Tahira and we would travel a lot then. Suddenly, everything stopped. I didn't have a single minute for her, and the worst part was she was pregnant. I was a father when the movie [Vicky Donor] released, but I had no time for the family. I was consumed with my own success. It was a professional high and a personal low.

Has that been the story of your life?
Yes. Even now, there is professional high, but personally, very tough [phase]. We are together, but she [Tahira] has gone through cancer. It's always been like that.

If you had to choose between personal and professional, which one would you go for?
(Long pause) It's tough to answer. At the same time, you need to have a solid personal life. Because everything will go. But this will stay.

Getting back to your professional life, your films have also been timed in quick succession — in 2017, Bareilly Ki Barfi and Shubh Mangal Saavdhan released two weeks apart, same with Andhadhun and Badhaai Ho this year. If both went down, you'd be screwed!
It's a coincidence. You'd never want your films to come back-to-back, but I have realised, if your films are good, they will work. Last year [with Bareilly and Shubh Mangal], I was nervous, as both the films had similar texture, and our designers were the same. My mother-in-law, played by Seema Pahwa, was the same. People were getting confused watching the two trailers. Some went to watch Shubh Mangal Saavdhan but had booked tickets for Bareilly Ki Barfi, since both were playing at the same time. This time around, I wasn't nervous, as both Badhaai Ho and Andhadhun had different milieus.

The other back-to-back releases were Hawaizaada and Dum Laga Ke Haisha in 2015. Can you explain what made you choose Hawaizaada?
Just the one-liner I heard. I was fascinated with the character, who apparently constructed India's first unmanned plane before the Wright brothers. But, I realised that it's not necessary that a film that has a good one-liner will last for two hours [the same way]. Every failure is a learning. Hawaizaada should have been more real. I was not expecting a fantasy, or a love story, taking over from the facts and other elements in the film.

Apparently, Aditya Chopra called you up after Hawaizaada's release and said that nobody's luck turns around in 20 days, but yours will. Take us through the phone call.
I was in Chandigarh that time and I needed a break. I wasn't going through my social media, had switched off my phone and was just chilling. But he reached out and said that we have a release on February 27. I was shocked. Pehle hi lagi padi thi and itni jaldi ye aa raha hai (laughs). He said that this is going to be a blessing in disguise and will change your fortune. And it did.

You, Vicky Kaushal and Rajkummar Rao show up on Karan Johar's talk show, where guests are routinely asked to rank the three of you. What's also common between you all is that you've subverted the idea of on-screen masculinity through your roles. You come from Chandigarh, which is the most macho city ever. How did you get to subversion of masculinity from there?
This happened because the scripts are more real, and the credit should go to scriptwriters. Of course, as actors, we have chosen those scripts, and are taking their idea forward. Coming from Chandigarh, I have gone through a transition myself. Back in the day, I was slightly patriarchal. I wasn't exposed to certain things. I came to Mumbai, and before that, Delhi. I believe everyone goes through a change. The idea is to make every small-town guy be a part of that change. There are two different countries in India — urban, which is 25-30 per cent; and the other that's rural. We need to get these two together. I expect that change to happen [to everyone] through cinema, or literature.

Give me an example in the way you have changed?
My mother is a housewife. When I started dating Tahira, I told her that you don't need to work, and that I'll be the breadwinner. She was shocked. She told me it wasn't about the money. She wanted to pursue her passion for herself. I told her then that we can't marry. And she told me, 'That's cool. We should definitely not marry!' She has been instrumental in changing me. I was uncouth and was brought up among rustic guys in Chandigarh, Haryana and Punjab. I went to an all boys' school. I didn't even know how to talk to a woman. She turned me into a gentleman. Whatever I am today, I owe a lot to my wife.

When you go back, do you find your friends to be just the way they were?
Most of them have changed, but some have remained similar. During Diwali, I always go back to Chandigarh. I was having debates about the #MeToo movement hearing stuff like, 'Abhi kya bolne ki zaroorat thi. Dus saal pehle kyun nahi bola?' Everybody was making the same argument. And I was like, 'Kya kar rahe ho yaar? Ab toh badal jao!'

Speaking of #MeToo movement, I'm told, you've had an incident yourself. Take us through it?
It was a gay casting-director. I have nothing against him. I was new to the city, and he said, 'Why don't you come and show me your d*** and I'd like to feel it, and you'll get a role!' If I was gay, I would have thought about it. I was single at the time! I told him that I wanted to make it with my own talent; otherwise I wouldn't be happy getting the role. We had a healthy discussion and parted ways.

We're going to end with confirming two rumours about you. One, that you've actually donated sperm; true?
Yes! I did it in Allahabad, during Roadies, in 2004. Sperm donation was a task. Guys with the highest sperm count would go in the next round. So I was in top three. So Vicky Donor was like method acting for me [laughs]. Shoojit Sircar was shocked when I told him about this incident.

And you brush four times a day?
Yes! I have an OCD. It started when I had braces, and the food would get stuck, so I used to brush a lot. And this habit has continued.

Transcribed by Mohar Basu, Sonil Dedhia and Sonia Lulla