MONEY OR GOOD REVIEWS? AYUSHMANN WANTS BOTH

The actor is happy doing small-budget films that are driven by good content

Actor Ayushmann Khurrana believes in doing no-nonsense roles and maybe that’s why, he has managed to garner both commercial success and critical acclaim for most of his films. However, the actor admits, with the increasing competition in the film industry, one can either top the number game at the box office or manage to impress fans with great content.

“For any film, either you make money or get good reviews. It’s important to have at least one of these things. And if you get both, there’s nothing like it,” says Ayushmann. Like all actors, the 33-year-old vies for both. “The primary objective of an actor is to control his own craft. The way you act on screen and bring the character alive is in your hands. The rest — whether the audience and the critics are going to like it or not — you can’t predict,” he says.

In the recent past, some of the big budget films have tanked at the box office, while small heartland stories have been lauded. To this, the actor feels his career graph has been quite safe that way. “I do films that fall under the small to medium budget category. So, even if they don’t fare well at the box office, it’s not heavy on the producers.”

Ayushmann, who has done films such as Vicky Donor (2012), Dum Laga Ke Haisha (2015) and Shubh Mangal Saavdhan, feels that he attracts such kind of films. “It’s good fun shooting a film, which is fairly off centre, relevant to the masses. I come from that theatre school background and I’ve travelled across with my theatre group, narrating such stories. We’ve been to smaller cities, interacted with the natives of the region and spread a social message. It’s natural for me to connect with people. It’s fun for me to play such characters and I would continue to do such quirky stuff. That’s what interests me,” says the actor.

PHOTO: SATISH BATE/HT Actor Ayushmann Khurrana was last seen in Shubh Mangal Savdhaan