Who: Ayushmann Khurrana
You know him from: Vicky Donor, Shubh Mangal Savdhaan and Bareilly Ki Barfi!
His role: “I am playing a blind musician who happened to witness a murder in this quirky thriller. It’s such an ironic situation and that is the one line that attracted me to Andhadhun.”
Working with Raghavan: “He’s the master of noir thrillers. I directly approached the director when I heard about his film .. I texted him and said I want to meet you. I expressed my keen interest in working with him and I asked him to audition me… He too was eager to explore this [new] side of me … Sriram is your quintessential rule breaker. He gives you your lines, explains the milieu that he wants to set his film in and you begin as an actor from that point.”
Experimenting with roles: “I wanted a gear shift in my life and career. I wanted to do something completely different as I have done slice of life films already. But Andhadhun is radically different for me.”
His preparation for the blind pianist role: “I am a keen observer of life … I met many blind students in a school in Worli [in Mumbai]. There was a guy called Rahul who was a blind pianist and I keenly observed how he plays, conducts and moves his hands. It was such an enriching experience.”
“When it comes to blind musicians, you realise that music is everything for them. Their sense of hearing is enhanced and it is an active sense. I look at them so differently now… When we met blind students, I realised they have partners who are visually fine and vice versa… They are leading normal lives.”
Whether Andhadhun is similar to Mohanlal’s blockbuster Oppam in which the Southern superstar plays a blind man with a heightened sense of smell and sound who gets embroiled in a murder: “No, it doesn’t touch upon the sense of smell. But sound, yes.”
Seeking work and auditioning for roles, a practice snubbed by Bollywood heavyweights: “There’s no question of egos being at play here. In Hollywood, everybody auditions for a role and gives screen tests. What’s wrong with doing that in Indian cinema too? As an actor, you should thrive on evolution or exploring different sides of you… In my case, Sriram didn’t request for a screen test, I insisted on one.”
His experience of learning from piano teacher Akshay Varma: “He was a fun guy. I took fourhour-long sessions everyday … It was exciting because I got to learn a new instrument as a musician. I have studied guitar in my college days and I was keen to learn piano. We are not using a body double for my fingers.”