Splitting hairs with Ayushmann
Award-winning actor reveals method and madness behind Bala
Call it lack of boundaries or tact, but being teased about your ballooning weight or receding hairline seems to be socially acceptable behaviour in India and beyond. Somehow, there’s never any filter when it comes to mocking people’s appearance.
However, director Amar Kaushik — whose credits include the empowering horror comedy Stree (2018) — isn’t willing to let that obnoxious shtick slide in his latest comedy Bala, out now in the UAE. He’s taking one for the men’s team with Bala this time, unlike Stree — a masterclass in advocating for women’s empowerment subtly through the medium of a horror comedy.
“It was an eye-opener for me that many people are obsessed about their hair. I had no idea. Thankfully, I am blessed with full hair and I had to meet people who had receding hairlines,” said Khurrana in an exclusive interview with tabloid!.
The Indian National Award-winning actor claims he’s on a mission to be a part of progressive films that question and deconstruct conservative mindsets.
“The movie is about self-love and self-acceptance … This movie will question the age old notions of beauty in our country.”
They also addressed the multiple controversies surrounding the movie including actress Bhumi Pednekar’s deliberately darkened skin and plagiarism charges.
Here’s what you need to know before you enter the cinemas to watch
Bala this weekend…
1 Khurrana, who’s on a career high with hits including Andhadhun, Badhaai Ho! and Article 15, spearheads this satire. Nobody can fault him for not mixing things up. So what was it like to occupy the mind space of a bald man?
“It was not easy at all,” said Khurrana. “I had to meet a lot of people suffering from premature baldness. I had a lot of friends from school and college who experienced hair fall in their late 20s or early 30s. I found two types of men — one who were under-
confident and nursing a complex. The second were such men who were extremely confident in their own skin. Bala is that person who is undergoing a transition from an under-confident man to a confident person… Empathy was required to understand and play this role.”
2 Khurrana lost around 7kg for this role and spent hours doing hair and make-up every day of the shoot. “I had to lose the muscles when I took on Dream Girl, but then I had to lose more weight for Bala. I had to play a 20-something here with a receding hairline, so I had to look lean. Apart from that, I had to undergo prosthetic make-up. So for a 6am shot, I had to be up at 3am,” said Khurrana. He did intense cardio workouts with no weights. He also followed a vegetarian diet so that he could lose weight quickly.
3 Director Kaushik, who grew up in Kanpur, has woven his personal memories into it. At first he thought he would produce this film, but seeing the layers to his developing script compelled him to be its director. It’s a commentary on the society that we currently live in, Kaushik said in a separate interview.
“This is a film which was very close to me. The things that you see in this film is something that I saw happening when I was growing up … The way people label you colloquially — mote [fatty] or nate [shorty] — thinking there’s no harm in that. Right now, looks are very important. If there’s a party, there are million apps telling you how to look good … People are being judged increasingly by their looks alone and not your personality,” said Kaushik.
Khurrana described his director as a man who is intensely aware of the milieu that he’s painting in his films.
“He’s grounded as a person and knows India inside out,” said Khurrana.
4 Khurrana re-unites with Yami Gautam, his first co-star in his 2012 debut film Vicky Donor. Bhumi Pednekar, who plays a vital role in this comedy, has also worked him in her first film Dum Laga Ke Haisha in 2015 and their subsequent 2017 hit, Shubh Mangal Saavdhan.
“Yami and Bhumi are poles apart in this film Bala... but they are strong headed women. Bhumi plays my childhood buddy, whereas Yami plays my love interest. Both of them worked with me in their first films and they have given their heart and soul into this script. They are such great actors and they have elevated this film to a whole new level,” Khurrana said.
5 Bala has invited its share of controversies including Pednekar being blasted for deliberate skin darkening for her role in this film. Both the director and its main actor defend the casting call with all their might. Their take on the debate:
“It’s extremely unfair. It’s every actor’s dream to portray different characters and don different looks. By that logic [of a dark-skinned actor playing such roles], then only cricketers should play cricketers on screen or musicians playing musicians on screen. As actors you are supposed to be a part of the look. It’s the director’s discretion on whom he should cast to bring credibility to the role he has written. Bhumi is a credible actor,” said Khurrana.
Director Kaushik is equally ferocious in his defence.
“I was a bit surprised by the controversy. It’s an actor’s job to change their looks according to their roles. Nobody asked Aamir Khan why he changed his looks or put on weight in Dangal. He did it perfectly well and when you saw Dangal, it became very clear why he was cast in that film,” Kaushik said.
Another scandal that has rocked Bala is the series of plagiarism charges against it. The makers of Sunny Singh’s Ujda Chaman, which released last week in the UAE, were the first ones to slam Khurrana’s film. They withdrew their case, but now another filmmaker, Kamal Kant Chandra, has alleged that Bala’s script is lifted from his biopic and demanded a ‘permanent stay’ on the release of the film.
But director Kaushik maintains that it’s an original story derived partly from his own childhood memories.
“This is a film which is close to me. When I was growing up in Kanpur, most of the things you see in the film has happened to us. The film not only touches about going bald, but it is much more than that,” said Kaushik.