I Want to Break the Mould With ‘AndhaDhun’: Ayushmann Khurrana

Find out why the actor approached director Sriram Raghavan for a role in the film.

Ayushmann Khurrana with his director Sriram Raghavan.

(Photo Courtesy: Instagram)

Ayushmann Khurrana prefers to be an actor rather than simply be a hero on screen. It’s the path he has chosen and he says he is happy it’s working for him. But his upcoming film AndhaDhun seems to indicate that the actor is ready to try something different.

The Quint caught up with the actor to talk about his role in the film, director Sriram Raghavan and more.

The trailer of the film reveals that your character is not completely blind. When you saw the trailer, did you wonder if it’s giving away too much?

Ayushmann Khurrana: Not really, it also says that every artist has a secret. Maybe he can see, maybe he can’t see, it’s still a question mark. So we have not committed to anything, but we had to build that kind of intrigue for the character, and get the traction for the trailer at the same time. People are going gaga about the trailer also because of that particular question mark, whether he can see or not. That’s the whole crux of the film - that the blind man has witnessed a murder. That statement in itself is quite bizarre.

We spoke to Sriram Raghavan and he said you messaged him and said you wanted to play this role. So how did that happen?

AK: I have never done this before. I have always thought that things will happen to me. Your good work attracts different kinds of good scripts.

But I wanted to break the mould of playing the guy in slice-of-life films. The best way out was to do a thriller and that too with the master of noir, Sriram Raghavan.

Ayushmann Khurrana, Actor

I just texted him, he was like “ok”. I got to know about the script in one line and found it very interesting. I met him and asked him, “Do you think I fit the bill?”. He is like, “It is not a slice-of-life film.” I said, “I don’t expect you to make such a film, that’s why I am here.” So I was like, “Why don’t you just take a screen test?” So he took one. It was a two camera set-up, I performed two scenes and he was like, “Let’s do this”.

Team AndhaDhun: Ayushmann Khurrana, Sriram Raghavan, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Tabu, Radhika Apte. (Photo Courtesy: Instagram)

He also said it was easier for you to play a piano as you are a musician yourself. How did that help?

AK: Music is something… either you have it or you don’t. Everybody can’t learn to play the piano or can’t sing for example. So this character required a musician because he is not just a virtuoso pianist but he is a blind pianist. When he is playing he is not supposed to look at the keys or the notes, nothing. So that was all the more difficult. I had to train intensively on piano for three-four months. I know how to play the guitar, but piano is difficult because it’s a new craft and you have to be ambidextrous. So it’s very difficult. But I had a great teacher in Akshay Varma; he’s from LA but based out of Mumbai now. So he told me how I could learn it fast and he knows the basics really well, so that really helped.

Ayushmann with his piano teacher Akshay Varma.  (Photo Courtesy: Instagram)

What kind of training did you go through to play a blind man?

AK: I went to this blind school in Worli. It’s one of the best in Southeast Asia and students from abroad. I met a lot of blind people – people who have been blind since childhood, and who have recently gone blind - and I started respecting them a lot. The way you perceive life completely changes after you meet these people. They have an enhanced sense of sound. They literally revere music more because unlike us, they don’t depend on any visual trigger while consuming music. So it’s a change of perspective and at the same time, it was very enriching as an experience.

I did not watch any film because that’s a very plastic reference for anything. When I met a blind pianist, Rahul, I observed his body language. I watched playing the piano, walking down the street, coming to Sriram sir’s office, climbing the stairs - it was very enriching and enlightening.

You are not a typical larger-than-life Bollywood hero. Your films always have a realistic touch. Is it a conscious decision?

AK: I always wanted to be an actor, in fact I wanted to be a hero also at the same time. But you know, sometimes your path is set from the first film. I am treading this path of realistic cinema, thankfully it’s working for me and I’m happy that I have carved out a certain space in the industry. Someone like Varun Dhawan, who started his career with Student of the Year, for him Sui Dhaaga is an anomaly. For me, an AndhaDhun is an anomaly. So I think it’s just the path you are treading.

I would love to do a hardcore commercial cinema also at the same time. I would love to but again, the script should make sense.

Tell me one commercial film you wish you had done?

AK: Rockstar, because I can sing my own songs! That’s about it.

Sriram Raghavan is known for thrillers, from Ek Haseena Thi to Johnny Gaddar. From an actor’s perspective, what makes him different?

His way of functioning is very different.

Sriram Raghavan is a quintessential rule-breaker. He will change everything on the set. He thinks ten steps ahead of you, that’s how he makes brilliant thrillers.

He is just galloping ahead of the viewers’ minds. Even while we are shooting, he will think something abstract and completely opposite of what he is supposed to shoot. There have been incidents on the sets where he changes everything with a “forget that, we are doing this now, probably we will take that also as an option”. So he just experiments with everything. And he is so spontaneous as a director that you have to be on your toes as an actor. So a non-actor cannot really work with him. It takes me back to the theatre improvs of the college days.

The actor with his director, Ayushmann and Sriram Raghavan on the sets of AndhaDhun.(Photo Courtesy: Instagram)

I am sure you have seen the Radhika Apte memes. Which one is your favourite?

AK: I think that one, ‘Radhika Tapte, Radhika Kapte’. It’s very funny! But I have to add that she is a brilliant actor. She has carved her space in the industry and she is doing roles which nobody else has done in the past. So she is a very brave actor.

A  Radhika Apte meme. (Photo Courtesy: Twitter)

Why are you not doing any web series?

AK: I don’t know. If something interesting comes my way, I am open to every medium. And digital is not just the future but the present right now.

But I think I have this fascination for the big screen, and I would love to do that. That will always be my priority unless something drastically different comes my way on the digital platform.