The Many Faces Of Ayushmann Khurrana

Poet. Musician. Actor

- Nirmika Singh

During our chat following the cover shoot, I request Khurrana to recite the poem for us on camera. The sparkly human he is (everyone I know who has even remotely worked with vouches for his congeniality and infectious optimism), he happily obliges and gives us a rare glimpse into his poetic self. If you understand the nuances of Hindi, you’d notice that what makes the poem heartwarming is not just the generous gratitude that Khurrana has expressed but the bits about worthiness and eligibility in it which reveal his quiet confidence.

If there were a Bollywood template to actualize all your creatives dreams in one stroke, Khurrana seems to have hacked it. Not only does he challenge the widespread belief that actors don’t make good singers, he goes ahead and shows everyone how you can be a hardworking actor and a touring musician rolled in one. There’s no one like him in the industry – which other contemporary mainstream actor do we know of who indulges in Hindi poetry, writes and co-composes songs, sings them and also has a full-fledged band that performs those originals live? He is also the only actor today to have featured as an singer/songwriter in the soundtracks of all his films released so far (Dum Laga Ke Haisha, 2015 was the only one where he didn’t).

It’s obvious that Khurrana doesn’t take success for granted and that he is not shy to switch gears when required. After an overwhelming applause for his debut film Vicky Donor in 2012, Khurrana experienced the biggest low of his career soon after when he had three straight flops in the next three years. That was when the actor decided it was about time he played to his strengths as a musician.