That's Ayushmann Khurrana's resolution as he turns 31
Sanyukta Iyer (MUMBAI MIRROR; September 12, 2015)

After three years in Bollywood Ayushmann Khurrana has two great films and three not-so great films to his credit. And after hours of introspection he has arrived at the conclusion that he would only like to do the Vicky Donor kind of films, which don't require a six-pack. Coincidentally, his second John Abraham production, Agra Ka Daabra, which reunites him with mentor-director, Shoojit Sircar, is well on track.

"Shoojit is reworking the script and John is in Budapest filming Force 2. Our film should roll mid-2016," says Ayushmann, adding that he has a two-film deal with John and five scripts in hand. "My next film should kickstart by the year end."

Is this Tigmanshu Dhulia's Bhoole Se Naam Na Lo Pyar Ka? It's a film, within a film about films, set in the '80s Bombay and revolving around an industry romance. Buzz is, Ayushmann will re-unite with co-star Bhumi Pednekar. "I've been talking to the makers and there will be an announcement soon. I was surprised to read about me doing the film already," he retorts. "Bhumi, who put on a lot of weight to fit the character in our earlier film together, looks like a conventional heroine now and I'd love to work with her. I'm speaking generally, since, the details of this film aren't finalised yet," he smiles.

Ayushmann, who turns 31 on Monday, is flying to Chandigarh like every year, to bring in his birthday with his family, before taking off to Singapore for two live concerts at the Formula One Grand Prix. "It's a birthday gift to myself. I will be watching Adam Levine's band, Maroon 5, play on September 19, followed by Bon Jovi, live, the following day," he exults, sighing that the two other gigs in his bucket list - Coldplay and a jugalbandi between Anoushka Shankar and the late Pandit Ravi Shankar, will now remain a dream unfulfilled.

Growing up in an all-boys school, his birthday was always the most boring day since it coincided with Hindi Diwas. He sulks, "There were no girls around so I ended up sitting in my room, in shorts and chappals, updating the Hindi blog, I used to write. The exception was when I was gifted a red bicycle, minus the supporting wheels, on my eighth birthday. I felt like a stud."

Birthday resolutions for the new year? "I plan to polish my moves and want to dance professionally. It's my passion. Earlier, I wasn't known for my singing or acting, but my dancing. I was called MJ (Michael Jackson)," he smiles. 

Nayandeep Rakshit (DNA; September 11, 2015)


Have you opted out of Tigmanshu’s film?
I have no idea what’s happening. I have not been involved in that for the past three months. We don’t have a schedule. We’ve met, we shook hands and agreed on doing the film. He is developing it. We don’t have a contract in place, money hasn’t changed hands.

Have you spoken to Tigmanshu or Ekta about it?
People have been asking me if I’ve left the film. I told them that I haven’t left the film.

Apparently, you wanted Priyanka Chopra in the film, but Tigmanshu was rooting for Bhumi…
(Makes a face) That hasn’t happened. I haven’t interfered in the film’s casting. I don’t know who’s been saying all this.

So what’s the status presently?
Tigmanshu had a shortlist of actresses he wanted. He had wanted to wait till Gori Tere Pyaar Mein released, because we had a good feeling about that film. It would have given us a bit more time and our budget would go up. We would get a good actress and all that.

Upala KBR (DNA; September 10, 2015)

Imran Khan is no longer a part of Tigmanshu Dhulia’s Bhoole Se Naam Na Lo Pyar Ka (earlier titled Milan Talkies) produced by Ekta Kapoor and has been replaced by Ayushmann Khurrana. Imran and Ekta had patched up earlier this year and he was doing the film, but certain logistics couldn’t be worked out.

Says a source, “Imran wanted Rs 3 crore and it was working out to be a very expensive affair. No distribution team was willing to back such an expensive film, which would have to be sold at a very high price. Moreover, distributors told Balaji there would be no recovery for such a film at the given budget, forcing the Balaji team into doing a rethink on casting.”

Also, apart from the price, Imran had other issues. He wanted Priyanka Chopra to co-star whereas Balaji and Tigmanshu felt Bhumi Pednekar suited the role better.

Chalo, phir se...
This development will see the Dum Laga Ke Haisha pair being repeated again. Our source says, “Bhumi and Ayushmann have been approached and everything is almost finalised. Balaji’s team felt they were best suited to play the lead pair in Bhoole Se...”

Imran Khan opens up on relationships, his detox break and why he hasn't signed any new films
Avinash Lohana (MUMBAI MIRROR; August 10, 2015)

Sonali Joshi Pitale (MID-DAY; May 18, 2015)

After several changes in the casting for Ekta Kapoor’s long-in-the-making project Milan Talkies, there’s one more. The industry grapevine suggests that the makers have chosen a new title — Bhoole Se Naam Na Lo Pyar Ka — while settling for original choice Imran Khan as lead actor.

A unit source says, "We have decided to reimagine Milan Talkies. We are making it with Tigmanshu Dhulia. It will go on floors later this year and we are in the process of finalising the star cast. We are looking for a new actress and a known male actor as the lead pair.”

The project was supposed to take off in September 2013, but was then delayed reportedly due to casting issues and unavailability of actors who were Imran Khan, who allegedly had a fallout with Ekta post Once Upon A Time in Mumbai Dobaara and patched up later, is likely to be part of this film. A source from the production house says, “The project is on hold at the moment and we are working on another film with Tigmanshu. So basically we are collaborating for two films with him and the cast is yet to be locked.
Bhoole Se… will roll this year and we are in the pre- production stage.”

While Tigmanshu denies the buzz, the production house did not respond to our text messages.

Imran Khan on his baby girl Imara, fatherhood and how it has changed him completely
Sneha Mahadevan (DNA; May 4, 2015)


Let’s talk about Imara.
She is 10 months old. She has started talking and the words she can now say are: hi, bye, mama, and papa. She has started walking, not very well, but just like a few steps. She can stand fine. I think she looks like me. She has very fine hair and light eyes.

Is she a mischievous kid?
She is very sweet, but yes, she has got that little mischievous streak from her mother. She is very friendly with people she knows. She is very curious about things and wants to know everything.

Does she understand Hindi?
We try to speak to her more in Hindi, but she understands English as well. More of her responses are in Hindi. If we ask her ‘Billi kya karti hai?’ she will go ‘Meow’, ‘Doggie kya karta hai?’ she will go ‘Woof, woof’. We are trying to teach her Hindi phrases. She will anyway learn English in school, so I would like for her Hindi base to be stronger.

Must be tough staying away for long periods of time from Imara?
Yes, it’s very difficult to stay away from her for long periods. Until you actually have a child, you don’t get it. I have never been this interested in another human being. You know, in the early stage of romance, you are constantly thinking how beautiful that girl is, but it fades. But in this case, it’s getting stronger. I am sitting on set and pull out my phone and I am looking at her photo with a silly expression on my face. Recently, for a schedule in Gujarat, I was gone for 15 days. That is the longest I have been away from her. I would FaceTime with her. She would see me on screen and then she would grab it, trying to reach out to me.

Did you for once think getting married and having babies would put your career on the backseat?
I am very happy with my life. I wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s real life first and foremost. I have always thought of myself as a person first. Actor was by chance. My personal life has always been of a higher priority and that is not the case with everyone. For me, I have always known what I give preference to. Having said that, I am happy to be back at work also. I had started to feel a little stagnated and rusty because I was sitting at home for a year. But I had always planned to take a break.

Let’s talk about your other babies — your pets.
I have dogs and cats, but I think that cats are more interesting in terms of their personalities than dogs. I have seven cats — Biskoot, Billy, Bonny, Jingle, Bighead, Sigmund and Tiki. My dogs are Seema, a white labrador, Emma and a black one, Kajri. When Imara was born, my cats took sometime to adjust. They don’t like change, so for the first six or seven months, they didn’t go near Imara. Biskoot still runs away. Only Sigmund, my cat, is very sweet with her. So when she takes a nap, he curls up on top of her and sleeps. Imara loves him. Her face lights up when she sees him. My mom and I are crazy animal people. The reason I like cats is because I feel like they have got their shit together. Dogs have no dignity. Cats will groom themselves and they’ve got poise. But cats, you have to develop a relationship with them and that is more demanding. It’s a different relationship with dogs.

How did it feel to get back on the set after a break?
I felt recharged, re-energised. I jumped into with the level of enthusiasm that I didn’t have before. The last couple of years especially 2012 and 2013, I was overworking. I was working every single day. There was no downtime at all and I was feeling burnt out, quite honestly. It saps your energy, and it puts you in a place where okay is good enough. In a way the break did me tremendous good. I have always been a believer in recharging batteries. In the early stages of my career, I was better at working and taking time off. Suddenly, I don’t know what happened, but now, I want to go back to doing the same.

But won’t you be taking breaks more often now that you have Imara to run back home to?
I am done with Katti Batti. We have like four-five days of patchwork left but by the end of May I should be done with the film. Then I am not shooting anything until in November.

How did your patch-up with Ekta Kapoor come about?
It wasn’t intentional but I was hearing from people (common friends who knew Ekta and me) that this matter needed to be settled. So, we met in January and we aired it all out. I told her, look these are my issues, this is what I heard, this is what I felt and she did the same. To be fair to her, a lot of the issues that came up were because of intermediaries who were adding their own version to what was being heard and said. I’ve never had any fights in my career. It was whipped out into a fight and it got to a point where we had to fight. Now those layers of intermediaries are gone and when she and I spoke, turns out that she and I were both told a lot of things that were incorrect.

So she offered Milan Talkies (now titled Bhoole Se Naam Na Lo Pyaar Ka) to you again?
Yeah. I know they talked to other actors for that part. I don’t know if they didn’t like someone or whether the actors weren’t interested in the script, I never got into it. I had read the script in 2011. I signed Milan Talkies long before Once Upon A Time In Mumbai Dobaara. But then it fell through. I don’t think they have finalised on a female lead. It’s a beautiful love story set in the town where the romance between the boy and girl kind of develops in the cinema hall (Milan Talkies). They go to watch movies at the cinema hall and the couple have a lot of romantic moments in the projection room. That cinema hall is the anchor of the story.

Imran Khan on his long-overdue patch-up with Ekta Kapoor and returning to Milan Talkies
Chaya Unnikrishnan (DNA; February 19, 2015)


The film revolves around a cinema hall and deals with the subject of movie piracy. And like Tigmanshu’s other films, this one is also based in a small town and is likely to be shot in Allahabad. “He wants to shoot there, but hasn’t locked in on the location. He will do a recce and decide. Also, since he wants to shoot in winter, the film will roll by December,” says Imran.

Milan Talkies was to be made two years ago, but after Once Upon A Time In Mumbai Dobaara, produced by Ekta Kapoor, flopped, Imran and she had a fallout, which resulted in his exit from Milan Talkies. Several actors from Shahid Kapoor to Aditya Roy Kapur were approached for the role. In fact, Aditya and Shraddha Kapoor were all but finalised for the film.

“I have no hang-ups if I believe in the director and the script. I liked the script and had committed to Tigmanshu even before I did Once Upon Ay Time... I am happy I will be doing it now,” says Imran.

The actor feels Ekta and he should have patched up sooner. “Unfortunately, it’s taken a year-and-a-half for that to happen. It would’ve been nicer if we had met a lot sooner,” he avers. What went wrong? All he’ll say is, “Signals get crossed in high-stress situations and there is a lot of miscommunication. There are a lot people in between... Recently, we bumped into each other and out of politeness we started talking. Baat karte-karte, we left all the unpleasantness behind us. She explained what she was feeling, I explained what I felt and we were able to come to a common ground and decided to go ahead with the film.”

Priya Gupta (BOMBAY TIMES; February 15, 2015)