Six years and nearly a dozen films later, Ayushmann Khurrana says he doesn’t feel like a star and doesn’t want to either.
“I approach all my films as my first. If you carry that innocence, it reflects in the camera. I know I have become a star but I don’t want to believe it. I want to be that simple, no fuss guy who approaches a film as if it is my first movie,” Khurrana said.
Khurrana recently starred in his first thriller, Andhadhun, directed by Sriram Raghavan. It’s now one of the best reviewed films of the year. He followed it up with Badhaai Ho, which is garnering positive response.
“My acting career has been quite a ride. After Vicky Donor, I gave two-three unsuccessful films and that was a great learning curve. But Dum Laga Ke Haisha onwards it was cool. I learnt so much from all my films, successful or unsuccessful,” the actor, 34, said. “You start believing in your intuition, your gut feeling. It ultimately depends on the choices you’re taking. Everyone is talented today. Your career graph depends on the choice of scripts, nothing else.”
Khurrana says the key to being grounded is to surround oneself with the right people.
“To maintain the innocence depends on the kind of people you hang out with. I have made friends from the industry but I still hang out with my Chandigarh friends. Your family can keep you grounded, make you keep things real,” he says.
The Meri Pyaari Bindu actor is always on the lookout for different subjects.
“My first aspiration is to be consistent. Atul Kasbekar [producer] once said I’m like the Rahul Dravid of Bollywood. I pick up the right deliveries and hit the sweet spot, but otherwise I am chill and never try too hard. That’s a great analogy, I love it,” he said.
“The running thread of my career has been different scripts. There isn’t any reference point for any of the films — Vicky Donor, Andhadhun or Badhaai Ho so people find it exciting because they haven’t seen anything like this. I’m quite proud of it.”
Badhaai Ho, out now in the UAE, features him as the son of an elderly couple who find out they will be turning parents for the third time.
“It wasn’t just that one quirky line ‘what to expect when your mother is expecting’ but the whole script won me over. Everyone is a hero in the film from Gajraj Rao, Neena Gupta to everyone. It’s such a balanced film which focuses on everyone,” he says.
