Ayushmann Khurrana opens up about career, playing unconventional hero in first film 'Vicky Donor' and its 9th anniversary

New Delhi: Celebrating nine years of the hit Bollywood film ‘Vicky Donor’, actor Ayushmann Khurrana on Tuesday (April 20) revealed how he felt about playing an unconventional hero in his debut movie.

Revealing that he was very jittery about the reaction audiences would have towards him as the film’s lead, Ayushmann said, "It's been 9 years but it definitely seems like it happened yesterday. I can still feel the rush I felt on release day, nine years back. I was confident of the script but very jittery about the response that I would get from audiences as a lead actor."

The versatile actor then spoke about the support he got from his family and added, "I remember all the phone calls with my family and friends, how they kept telling me that audiences would welcome me because I have put in my best. I was an outsider just starting to write my own destiny and I was thrilled with the prospect of what life had in store for me. I owe so much to Vicky Donor."

Ayushmann credited his director Shoojit Sircar for the fantastic debut that became a runaway success at the box office and said, "I owe everything to Shoojit Sircar for his vision and trust in me as an actor. I owe it to Ronnie Lahiri and Juhi Chaturvedi. It was a film that was trying to change the language of cinema in India and I’m so proud to have been a part of it."

The success of ‘Vicky Donor’ taught Ayushmann that the audiences want to see a new hero on screen. Talking about it he said, "It’s a film that told me to dream, to be bold, to be gutsy and risky about content choices and most importantly told me that audiences want to see a different form of heroism on screen. They want something real, relatable, endearing and they want to see good cinema that has clutter breaking stories.

"He further said that it was the movie’s success that helped him choose unconventional scripts, "Vicky Donor’s incredible success helped me stay on course to continuously disrupt the industry narrative with my choice of cinema and I can assure you that I will constantly try doing so through my brand of storytelling."

The plot of ‘Vicky Donor’ was based on sperm donation and infertility. The unconventional film along with Ayushmann, also starred Yami Gautam, Annu Kapoor, Dolly Ahluwalia, among others.

While Ayushmann was honoured with the Best Male Debut Filmfare Award for the film in 2013, Yami was nominated in the category of Best Female Debut at the Filmfare Awards the same year.
Meanwhile, since his Bollywood debut in 2012, Ayushmann has delivered a string of hits in the past couple of years. He currently has many upcoming projects in his kitty including ‘Anek’, ‘Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui’ and ‘Doctor G’. Ayushmann was last seen in Shoojit Sircar’s ‘Gulabo Sitabo’, alongside Amitabh Bachchan.