‘Tahira is a passive feminist’
As wife Tahira Kashyap readies to debut as a director, Ayushmann Khurrana talks about turning producer, and why he isn’t sure if he’ll have any part to play in any of Tahira’s films.
“I don’t have the mindset of a producer”, says the actor, describeing his journey — he has produced a short film, Toffee, for Tahira. It was shown at the Mumbai film fest 2017 and was well received. What is Toffee about?
Toffee is a wonderful story about child marriage. It’s about two young girls — one urban, one rural, and how they become friends. A subject like this is the need of the hour. How did you turn film producer? Tahira has been writing and directing plays, and we were the founder-members of a theatre group, Manchtantra. She wrote a play three years back, called Sold Out, and it was very well received in Chandigarh and Delhi.
Finally, when she wrote this and gave me a narration, I was really excited and told her that she should make a short film. The Internet as a medium is now huge, and this is the time when short films have a market. I don’t have the mindset of a producer, but... I was creatively involved.
Are there any more scripts that you want to produce?
If we get something really out of the box, why not? Tahira has one or two scripts that are clutter-breaking and quirky, but my concentration now is on acting and singing.
Would you be open to working in a film that Tahira directs?
She is a subdued or a passive feminist and her films are based around girls. So I don’t know if I’ll have anything meaty to do (laughs). But let’s see what I get to play.