‘Street theatre actually set my foundation to become a fearless performer!’ : Ayushmann Khurrana

Young Bollywood star Ayushmann Khurrana, who has become the poster boy of content cinema in India, feels street theatre played an invaluable hand in shaping the artist he is today! Ayushmann did serious theatre for five years. During his college days he has also done several plays at the Gaiety Theatre in Shimla. He was also the founding member of DAV College’s Aaghaaz and Manchtantra, which are active theatre groups in Chandigarh.
 
On World Theatre Day today, Ayushmann says, “My tryst with acting started with street theatre and it made me hugely confident about the fact that I could entertain people with my skills. Street theatre actually set my foundation to become a fearless performer. I became not afraid to take risks and I’m hugely grateful for this because it has shaped who I have become today.”
 
Voted as one of TIME Magazine’s Most Influential People in the World, Ayushmann adds, “Theatre, to me, can be introspective, critical about society and what we are becoming and also serve as a gateway to fantasize about a world that doesn’t exist. I have learnt so much from theatre because it challenges you to push your boundaries so that you can entertain and engage with audiences in a much deeper and interactive manner. I have taken my learnings from doing theatre and tried to emulate them for my on-screen performances and choice of scripts.”
 
For Ayushmann, theatre taught him to shed his inhibitions which has been evident in his spectacular content choices. He has played a sperm donor in Vicky Donor, played a man with erectile dysfuction in Shubh Mangal Savdhaan, was the first Hindi film star to play a gay man in Shubh Mangal Zyada Savdhaan, brought out the need for inclusivity of the transgender community in India in Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui, to name a few!
 
He says, “Theatre can be a boundless form of self-expression and I realized back then that if I had to become a good artiste, I will need to constantly push myself to shed my inhibitions and pick projects that challenge my notion of how acting should be. I have enormous respect for theatre and theatre actors and whenever I get a chance, I try to make time to watch great performances and productions.”
 
Ayushmann has a stellar line up of films in 2022. He will be next seen in Anubhav Sinha’s Anek, Anubhuti Kashyap’s Doctor G and film-maker Aanand L. Rai’s Action Hero being directed by debutant Anirudh Iyer.