Ayushmann Khurrana: ‘Shubh Mangal Saavdhan gave me the courage to pick my subsequent films’

Bollywood star Ayushmann Khurrana has become the poster boy of content cinema in India today. His journey to being the most disruptive actor in the Indian film industry started with Vicky Donor that saw him debut with a remarkably edgy, taboo subject of sperm donation. Ayushmann became the conversation starting star in India with Shubh Mangal Saavdhan in which he again embraced a taboo topic of erectile dysfunction and scripted a success at the box office. On the film’s fourth anniversary today, Ayushmann thanks the project for empowering him to become the artiste that he is recognised as today.

Ayushmann says, “I debuted in Bollywood with a bold taboo subject of sperm donation in Vicky Donor, thanks to Shoojit Da, and that showed me how the audience was changing and embracing subjects that was disruptive. With Shubh Mangal Saavdhan, I returned to this territory with Aanand L. Rai and R.S. Prasanna. Their genius was in sensitively showing a subject like erectile dysfunction and making it entertaining and supremely palatable for audiences to engage.”

The versatile actor, who has delivered eight hits in a row on the big screen, says, “After Vicky Donor, Shubh Mangal Saavdhan reinstated my belief that the people of India want to discuss taboo topics out in the open and in their own way address them for the good of society. The success of the film told me to stay on course and try and bring more such themes out of the closet and into mainstream cinema. I felt that having a discussion on these things was necessary.”

Ayushmann credits Shubh Mangal Saavdhan for changing the course of his career. “Shubh Mangal Saavdhan gave me the courage to pick my subsequent films and put all my faith behind it. I’m fortunate that in this process I found directors whose creative vision was so original that it blew me away. I thank everyone associated with this film for empowering me to become an artiste who relishes in sparking conversations in India. I want to do just that through my next few films like Anek, Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui and Doctor G,” he says.