Before he became the actor and musician his fans know him as today, Ayushmann Khurrana was a radio jockey. At the age of 22, he began his career in showbiz by hosting a breakfast show that was, coincidentally, about Bollywood! On World Radio Day today, he reflects on his time on the waves, which gave him his first taste of fame.

“Here I was at my first job, and they had given me the breakfast show, which they had hugely promoted. I was on the hoardings in Delhi. That was really new at that time. We did a lot of disruptive content in 2006 and we started as a retro station! At 22, I don’t think there was anyone else in my age group who was well versed in retro Bollywood apart from me,” he recalls.

The 37-year-old, who completes 10 years in the film industry with Vicky Donor (2012), feels it is “very important” for everyone to cherish the starting point of their career. Khurrana says, “Those are the formative years of someone’s career. It can either make you or break you, and I was fortunate to be surrounded by creative people who were looking to disrupt.”

He credits his radio stint with giving him the confidence that he could become an actor in the future. “The success I saw with radio taught me that I could back myself and explore ways to become an entertainer. It is such a coincidence that I have hosted some really off-centre shows. Looking back, I feel I was always drawn to out-of-the-ordinary concepts, and that’s pretty much become my signature today as I tend to pick subjects that are fresh and unique,” he ends.