 "Ayushmann Khurrana")
Actor, singer, VJ, RJ, TV host and now an author. That's quite an impressive list of accomplishments to rack up in showbiz by the time you are 30 years old. But for Ayushmann Khurrana, these were all different routes to reach the ultimate destination: the film industry. "I had to pursue theatre, radio, television and then come into films. I think after Shah Rukh Khan I must be the first TV actor to successfully make the transition into films," says Khurrana with a mix of pride and easy charm, as he basks in the critical and commercial success of Dum Laga Ke Haisha (DLKH). The Yash Raj Films production directed by Sharat Katariya that is firmly on its way to becoming a sleeper hit, after posting box-office collections of ~25 crores in its four-week run in theatres.
Making his offbeat debut in Shoojit Sircar's delightful comedy about a sperm donor, the real-life smooth-talking Punjabi munda is said to have sleepwalked through his role in Vicky Donor. His playback skills and supremely confident performance had made him the breakout star of 2012. However, a string of duds in Bewakoofiyan, Nautanki Saala and Hawaizaada led many in the industry to write him off, only for the 30-year-old to bounce back with a quirky feel-good comedy set in small-town India, reminding fans and critics alike to what he's capable of.
In the age of larger-than-life heroes, Dum Laga Ke Haisha is unique since it features a leading man as the lesser half of an unconventional couple. Katariya says that Khurrana is known to be a risk-taker and has the ability to see a film in its totality, not just his own role in it. Many actors tend to refuse parts in which the woman has a stronger role, but Khurrana agreed to do it immediately. "Khurrana was my first choice for DLKH because he is very charming as a person. The character of Prem Prakash Tiwari has many grey shades and it was important to find somebody with the requisite charisma to pull it off." Khurrana played a lame-duck loser, but neither lost his vulnerability nor let his character devolve into a caricature. After the actor delivered quite a few cracking dialogues in a deliciously chaste Hindi dialect, Katariya concedes the character came off much better onscreen than it was on paper.
But Khurrana wasn't always the confident performer he is now. As a scrawny, geeky adolescent who was nervous and self-conscious, he had shaky beginnings, but found inspiration from his film-loving family in Chandigarh. "My grandmother used to love movies, she used to do impressions of Dev Anand, Raj Kapoor and Dilip Kumar - till date I've never seen an elderly woman perform mimicry with such skill," recalls Khurrana. His father, P. Khurrana, a well-known astrologer, is a film buff as well, and pushed him to go on stage as a child to gain confidence and hone his skills. Khurrana's first time on stage was as Shylock in The Merchant of Venice in Class V, and he continued to pursue theatre in college as well.
His father has played an important role in his journey to stardom too - whether it was through encouraging him to pursue theatre and music, or calling him back home to finish his studies after winning reality show MTV Roadies in 2004. "After Roadies, many other contestants stayed back in Mumbai to cash in on the fame, but I returned home to pursue a master's degree in mass communication from Panjab University at the insistence of my parents." But right after he finished his degree, it was his father who packed his bags and sent him back to Mumbai to try his luck in the "mayanagri".
P. Khurrana says that as a rule, he never promoted astrology to his children, lest they stop working hard and run to him for solutions. But he claims he always knew that the stars had something special in store for his son. So, he did everything he could to jumpstart that destiny. For instance, he changed the spelling of Ayushmann's name when he was just a child - to "add the sum of 5 (the value of the letter 'n') and 2 (the value of the letter 'r') or a total of 7 to his name - since all the famous superstars, be it Amitabh Bachchan, or Shah Rukh, or Dilip Kumar, are ruled by the numbers 2, 5 or 7." The son claims he isn't a firm believer in astrology, "but I believe in my dad."
Raghu Ram, the former host and executive producer of MTV Roadies, recollects what set Khurrana apart from other contestants during the audition was his polite and straightforward nature. "I was being an idiot as usual, but Ayushmann conducted himself with a lot of dignity as opposed to other contestants who were trying to be loud-mouthed to get an edge," says Ram. But hard as it is to believe, at some level Khurrana still remains an introvert. "He's very shy, and as a video jockey you have to be very outgoing," adds Ram. "Once, I asked him how he does it, and he told me 'I'm an actor, so I act as a VJ' - I found this a strange thing to say but knowing him, it made perfect sense."
The Punjabi youth's journey in Mumbai started with a stint in radio at BIG FM, which he considers a great experience because it taught him spontaneity. "I was sent to Delhi to be a radio presenter, and I was content here for a couple of years. I was earning well, had a nice car, was happily cocooned in my comfort zone - I'm not a very ambitious person by nature," Khurrana confesses. So then how did films finally beckon? Why, through dear daddy of course, who gave him another call and reminded the inherently laidback lad to move back to Mumbai and keep trying to get a break in acting. A couple of forgettable daily soaps and memorable anchoring gigs on TV later, he caught Sircar's eye. Calling him a complete director's actor, Sircar says, "You need to be with him and tell him what you want, and he will give you exactly that, and more. Apart from a being such a versatile performer, he is a grounded person - a proverbial nice guy."
He is a versatile performer indeed, but of everything that he has dabbled in, Khurrana claims that acting is still his favourite. Theatre is a more wholesome experience for him, "food for the soul, not for the stomach". Being on stage is an electrifying experience and he loves doing concerts, anchoring award shows, and participating in off-camera events. His unconventional looks don't worry him, as he believes that "eventually it is your talent, craft and character that make you desirable". He definitely has the charisma of a star in the making, but box-office receipts indicate that he is most bankable in plot-driven, performance-oriented films. DLKH is already drawing parallels with last year's Queen, and Khurrana attests that he is a firm believer in following his intuition to sign good scripts, stories that he connects with. "Till the time you are a superstar, you better back yourself up with a super-script," quips Khurrana.
Another well-timed move by Khurrana is the recent publication of his memoir, Cracking the Code: My Journey to Bollywood, which he co-wrote with his wife, journalist and professor Tahira Kashyap. Khurrana is currently back in Chandigarh and intends to spend quality time with his two children and doing some heavy-duty "chilling" in life. "I'm working on Shoojit Sircar's next venture, Agra Ka Dabra, about a tour guide who wants to be an actor. I'll also be launching more music singles, and I plan to tour with my band, Ayushmann After School. I haven't signed any more films, I want to take my time and relax for now." In the age of ~100-crore clubs, it is refreshing to find a talented mainstream Bollywood actor who can so breezily ignore the rat race.
