Ayushmann Khurrana imprinted the quintessential boy-next-door image on the audiences’ minds as soon as he made his Bollywood debut with Shoojit Sircar’s Vicky Donor in 2012. The film talked about In-Vitro fertilization (IVF) and sperm donation in a country where talking about sex and its problems is taboo. And the actor, who turns 35 today, perfected the role with sheer finesse.
While Ayushmann also has Nautanki Saala, Bewakoofiyaan and Hawaizada in his resume, Sharat Katariya’s Dum Laga Ke Haisha (2015) turned out to be a landmark film for him as it dwelt on yet another untouched topic - Indian society’s take on overweight woman apart from shedding light on the plight of arranged marriages in our country. Nonetheless, Ayushmann was praised for his daring script choices.
Although his next Meri Pyaari Bindu was poorly received, Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari’s Bareilly Ki Barfi saw Ayushmann play a man who could go to any lengths for his lady love, a role that Indian audiences could identify with. In fact, Shubh Mangal Savdhan too turned out to be a laugh riot as Ayushmann played a man who is unable to consummate his relationship because of erectile dysfunction. Despite all the appreciation for unconventional roles, it would not be wrong to say that Ayushmann did not manage to really sway away from doing genteel, slice-of-life love stories, mostly set against rural backdrops. And to say the least, a certain section of the cine goers certainly felt that Ayushmann too succumbed to becoming a stereotype.
However, it was in 2018 that Ayushmann shattered the glass ceiling with his role as the “blind” pianist Akash in AndhaDhun, co-starring Tabu and Radhika Apte. For the Sriram Raghavan-directed film, he even received the best actor National Award, which he shared with Uri: The Surgical Strike star Vicky Kaushal. He moved further with Badhaai Ho, a film which also won big at the National Film Awards besides minting over 100 crore at the box office.
While his previous films were sleeper hits, his 2018 releases rose him to the pedestal of being the ‘new age’ hero, which was far away from the hyper-masuline and super macho heroes that Bollywood has shown for decades. In 2019, Ayushmann's Article 15, which highlighted the caste divide in India and featured him as a cop for the first time, was well-received by both critics and audiences.
For the unversed, Ayushmann was a successful radio jockey and video jockey before making his Bollywood debut. Little did he know then that many years later, his skills of voice modulation and character imitations would come handy in his latest release Dream Girl, in which he plays a middle class man who earns a living pretending to be a woman. Going ahead, he has Bala, which deals with premature balding, apart from Shubh Mangal Zyada Savdhaan, which sees him as a gay man.
As the actor turns a year older today, it is certainly a delight to watch him emerge as the go-to star for quirky stories, a space Ayushmann has always wanted to capture. And to say the least, everything that Ayushmann Khurrana has touched since 2017 has turned into Box Office gold. He may be a ‘dream girl’ on screen but he’s certainly the ‘dream’ actor that every filmmaker now aspires to work with.
Happy Birthday Ayushmann!
