AYUSHMANN DOES NOT FOCUS ON WHY A FILM FAILED

Ayushmann Khurrana on handling a film’s failure and how release dates can impact the fate of a film at the box office

Unlike a lot of Bollywood actors who would get bogged down by a film’s failure, Ayushmann Khurrana believes in looking at the sunny side. Not worrying about why a film didn’t work, the actor says he tries to focus on how he can make his next films work at the box office.

If you look at Ayushmann’s career graph, out of the eight films he has starred in so far, four garnered great responses from fans and critics alike, while the rest tanked at the box office, leaving him with a success-failure ratio of 50:50. After his debut film Vicky Donor (2012), which was a sleeper hit, the actor went through back-to-back flops including Nautanki Saala! (2013), Bewakoofiyan (2014), and Hawaizaada (2015), the jinx only being broken by Dum Laga Ke Haisha in 2015. However, earlier this year, Meri Pyaari Bindu didn’t work either.

“Of course you feel bad when the film doesn’t do well. But as an artist, we can only give our best and make sure that our craft gets appreciated. Eventually, it has to connect with the masses,” says the 33year-old actor, adding, “I feel, at the end of the day, it’s very subjective. For instance, Meri Pyaari Bindu, a lot of people liked it and some didn’t, so it got mixed reviews.”

The actor, who got to savour two consecutive hits this year — Bareilly Ki Barfi and Shubh Mangal Saavdhan, adds that the release date of a film also plays an important role in deciding its fate.

“Meri Pyaari Bindu got stuck because of the release date. Baahubali 2 had just released and Hindi Medium was to release the next week. I still believe our film could have done better. Shubh Mangal Saavdhan worked because it had a long run in theatres, as the next big release was Judwaa 2, which was only towards the end of the month. I guess we learn from our mistakes.”

Of course you feel bad when the film doesn’t do well. But as an artist, we can only give our best and make sure that our craft gets appreciated AYUSHMANN KHURRANA, ACTOR