‘We shouldn’t typecast female directors’
Ayushmann Khurrana says categorising male and female directors will be “generalising and stereotyping a gender”
Nowadays, almost every Friday is packed with multiple releases. But the month of August stands out with close to 10 big-ticket films readying to hit the theatres, including Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari-directed Bareilly Ki Barfi (BKB). Ask Ayushmann Khurrana if he is worried about so many films vying for attention in August and he says: “Things such as the release [date] of a film is the producer’s and distributor’s call, and I have no say in that.”
Ayushmann further adds that since it’s the producers’ money, they know “what best to do with the film.” “If they’ve chosen August 18 at the release date, there must be a thought behind it. Our film is completely different as far as the genre is concerned vis-à-vis other films that are releasing on the same day. May both the films do well, including Shradhha Kapoor’s next, because they are totally different from each other, and if both the films are good, then both will do well.”
Interestingly, BKB will also see Ayushmann team up with a woman director, Ashwiny for the second time (after Nupur Asthana in Bewakoofiyaan; 2014). Is there a difference between working with a male director and a female one? “I don’t think so. We should not typecast female directors just because they are supposedly better with emotions or because we think they can’t do action films etc. I only believe in the fact that they are directors and are good at their job. I don’t classify them as male or female directors,” says the actor-singer.
Ayushmann says that categorising male and female directors will be “generalising and stereotyping a gender.” “And you just can’t do that. Every person is different, regardless of their gender. I think we have made our own rules about men and women behaving a certain way. That’s not the case at all,” he says.
I only believe in the fact that they are directors and are good at their job. I don’t classify them as male or female directors.
AYUSHMANN KHURRANA, ACTOR
Vicky Donor was a proper alpha, but after that, I’ve only played simple, sweet characters. But this guy is far from sweet.
AYUSHMANN KHURRANA, ACTOR
With regard to Bareilly Ki Barfi (BKB), Ayushmann is “happy” that people have connected with the world shown in the film. “Ashwiny [Iyer Tiwari; director] is a brilliant director. Her Nil Battey Sannata (2015) and BKB are completely disparate, and that only shows her versatility as a director,” says Ayushmann.
Ask him what’s the best thing he has heard about himself, and he says, “People are telling me that I am looking [different] and have been presented in a different avatar,” says Ayushmann, adding that he plays a bully from Bareilly in the film.
“After Vicky Donor, I don’t think I have played an alpha [male]. Vicky Donor was a proper alpha, but after that, I’ve only played simple, sweet characters. But this guy is far from sweet. It’s quite different and everybody has liked the change,” says Ayushmann, whose next film Shubh Mangal Saavdhan is due for release.