What does the success of Dream Girl 2 mean for Ayushmann Khurrana?

Ayushmann Khurrana has scored his fourth century, with Dream Girl 2 entering the illustrious 100-crore club. The actor redeemed his reign at the box office, however, after quite a few setbacks. Post-pandemic, things changed drastically for the actor as far as his box office standing was concerned.

It started with Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui(2021)which received positive reviews but failed to fetch numbers at the box office. Next followed Anubhav Sinha’s political thriller Anek (2022) which too turned out to be a dud. Then came Doctor G(2022), a social comedy in which Ayushmann played a gynaecologist but the audience seemed disinterested. Anirudh Iyer’s An Action Hero looked promising as it gave Ayushmann a chance to sizzle as an action hero. Despite rave reviews, the film underperformed at the box office. Well, Dream Girl 2’s success comes as a sigh of relief to Ayushmann which helped retain his place as one of the bankable actors in Bollywood.

Also read: Ayushmann Khurrana talks about Ananya Panday’s casting in Dream Girl 2: ‘If you're a Bombay girl, it's tough..’ 

Though the first instalment was a massive hit (140 crores), it wasn’t a guarantee that the second instalment would spell the same magic. Ayushmann's impersonation of a female voice transcends to cross-dressing and disguising as a woman in Dream Girl 2. The actor worked hard to get mannerisms right to fit into the challenging character, which had a high risk of acceptance by the smart audience. Since his earlier transformation in Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui didn’t work, Dream Girl 2’s success definitely faded away Ayushmann's stress for future endeavours.

Also read: From Meri Pyaari Bindu to Doctor G, Ayushmann Khurrana’s movies which deserved more love 

Earlier in the day, Ayushmann himself accepted that his 39th birthday has become extra special because of Dream Girl 2. “This is a very special birthday for me because Dream Girl 2 is a hit! The people of my country have always supported me ever since my debut and this year I have to thank them for giving me one of the best birthday gifts ever by making my film a big success! I can’t thank them enough because I wanted to deliver a film that makes people happy,” he said in a statement. He also regained the confidence to try out more comedy roles and drama with the long-needed approval of the audience.

Directed by Raaj Shaandilyaa, Dream Girl 2 revolves around a small-town boy who struggles every day to pay his father's debt. He is also deeply in love with Pari whose father has kept the conditions to marry her. To make ends meet, he dons as Pooja ensuing wild chaos and a comedy of errors. Besides Ayushmann, the film also stars Ananya Panday, Rajpal Yadav, Paresh Rawal, Vijay Raaz and Manjot Singh among others. Backed by Ekta Kapoor, the film was released on August 25, 2023, in theatres.