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Meri Pyaari Bindu is a romantic comedy where Ayushmann Khurrana aka Abhimanyu and Parineeti Chopra aka Bindu are in love. Bindu is a talented singer, and Abhi is a writer. Today we spoke to the writer – Ayushmann Khurrana, and here’s what he has to say about the film, Parineeti’s singing talent and also about how he is a family man.
On life, his wife and love
“I relate to the concept of falling in love when you are young, because I have been in this relationship for the past fifteen years now, I was seventeen when my wife and I started dating,” said Ayushmann who got married to his childhood sweetheart, Tahira and they have two children together. The Vicky Donor actor then draws more similarities between him and Abhimanyu, the character he portrays in Meri Pyaari Bindu and says, “Abhimanyu and I are quite similar, he is vulnerable and naive in the film, and in my teens I was like that, maybe I am more practical now because I have seen life. He loves music, especially retro music in the film, and I can relate to that too.”
On being a family man
When asked about how he has been around for so long in the industry, but hardly makes an appearance at parties with other friends in the industry, Ayushman says, “I am a family man, really! Four full months I am outside for work, so I spend most of the time I have in hand with my family. There is bonding with other actors for sure, like I love Varun (Dhawan) and Arjun (Kapoor), recently I went to his (Varun Dhawan) place for dinner with my brother (Aparshakti Khurana), so yeah, that happens too. But I prefer being with my family.”
On being a part of two National Award winning films
When asked how he looks back at his career as an actor, Ayushmann says, “I don’t know, I think if you have talent then you will definitely get more opportunities as an actor. I am glad that in the span of five years I have given two National Award winning films – Vicky Donor and Dum Laga Ke Haisha. And I am happy that I am getting quality roles like this one in Meri Pyaari Bindu, it’s quite a film. Bareilly Ki Barfi is also a film adaptation of a novel, and then Shubh Mangal Savdhan with Bhoomi is like an antithesis of Vicky Donor. Next up is Shriram Raghavan’s thriller, which is a different genre for me. So, I think I am fortunate like that.”
On how success is a lousy teacher
“Success and failure will come and go, and I still believe that success is a lousy teacher, but failure teaches you a lot. Failure is your path to growth. I have learnt that at times you get myopic that your role is of utmost importance, but then you realise that the film is the ultimate, and if the film is successful, you are successful. Film’s failure doesn’t get on to me, I am a very level headed guy, I take success and failure equally. I am not expressive as a person also, if I am happy I don’t get ecstatic, and if I am sad I will not cry out loud, I am somewhere in between. It is the perspective that changes the outside world but internally I just take it as a learning experience”, says Ayushmann who takes success with a pinch of salt.
On his desire to do progressive work
When asked if he would like to work again for television, Ayushmann says, “Web excites me more than TV. I started as a youth channel anchor, so there was edgy content that we showcased. Now it doesn’t happen on TV, web is where this edginess has come to. TV is quite regressive now, especially fiction, and web is progressive. I would love to do some progressive stuff, a web-series looks interesting.”
On the actors taking on singing debate
We have always seen that when female actors take up singing they face a lot of flak, but when male actors sing, they are not trolled that much. To which, Ayushmann says, “Really? I haven’t noticed that! I think actresses sing more than actors, and actors who sing do more live shows also. That is legit that they can sing. If you can do a live show with a band, that means you can sing, and maybe that’s why actors don’t face criticism. At the same time talking about Parineeti, she is the best singer here! She’s been doing live shows since the age of five, and she is classically trained, with a BA honours in music.”
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Recently Bollywood actors were criticised for singing, especially when it comes to Sonakshi Sinha. Ayushmann Khurrana is one of those who had supported Sonakshi in the whole actor-singer debate. On this he says, “It is a very Indian tradition of lip-syncing songs. I have been to musicals from childhood, in the west most of the actors are also singers. So I don’t understand what is the whole drama, if an actor sings his own songs it adds to the credibility making the character more convincing. Having said that, when it comes to the Justin Bieber concert, it’s just the commercial aspect. There is a hierarchy in the industry and we are obsessed with cricket and cinema. Automatically cricketers and actors are given the spotlight. We believe that Shah Rukh Khan has sung “Suraj Hua Maddham”, we consume music visually. So in this aspect an actor will be more sellable than a singer, it is like that in India, we can debate about that being right or wrong, but that’s the tradition in our country.”
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