Ayushmann Khurrana is an Indian actor and singer who works in Hindi films. Known for his portrayals of ordinary men often battling social norms, he is the recipient of several awards, including a National Film Award and four Filmfare Awards. He has appeared in Forbes India’s Celebrity 100 list of 2013 and 2019, and Time named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2020, (born Nishant Khurrana; 14 September 1984).
Khurrana won the second season of the reality television show MTV Roadies in 2004 and ventured into an anchoring career. He made his film debut in 2012 with the romantic comedy Vicky Donor, in which his performance as a sperm donor earned him the Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut.Following a brief setback, he starred in the commercially and critically successful Dum Laga Ke Haisha (2015).
Khurrana established himself with several box-office hits, including the comedy-dramas Bareilly Ki Barfi (2017), Shubh Mangal Saavdhan (2017), Badhaai Ho (2018), Dream Girl (2019), and Bala (2019); the thriller Andhadhun (2018); and the crime drama Article 15 (2019). His performances as a blind pianist in Andhadhun and an honest cop in Article 15 won him two consecutive Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor, and he also won the National Film Award for Best Actor for the former. In 2020, he starred in Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan, which was the first mainstream Bollywood film led by openly gay characters. Following several films that were box-office flops despite receiving positive reviews, Khurrana had a commercial success in the spiritual sequel Dream Girl 2 (2023).
In addition to his acting roles, Khurrana has sung for several of his films. His song “Pani Da Rang”, which he sang and co-composed, earned him the Filmfare Award for Best Male Playback Singer.
Early life and education
Khurrana was born in a Punjabi Hindu family, on 14 September 1984 in Chandigarh to Poonam and P. Khurrana, as Nishant Khurrana. His parents changed his name to Ayushmann Khurrana when he was 3 years old. He was a part of Guru Nanak Khalsa College. He studied at St. John’s High School, Chandigarh and DAV College, Chandigarh. He majored in English literature and has a master’s degree in Mass Communication from the School of Communication Studies, Panjab University. He did serious theatre for five years. During his college days he has done several plays in Gaiety Theatre, Shimla. He was also the founding member of DAV College’s “Aaghaaz” and “Manchtantra”, which are active theatre groups in Chandigarh. He conceived and acted in street plays and won prizes in national college festivals such as Mood Indigo (IIT Bombay), OASIS (Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani) and St. Bedes Shimla. He also won a Best Actor award for playing Ashwatthama in Dharamvir Bharati’s Andha Yug.
Career
2004–2011: Television shows and early career
After completing his graduation and post-graduation in Journalism, his first job was as a radio personality at BIG FM, Delhi. He hosted the show Big Chai – Maan Na Maan, Main Tera Ayushmann and also won the Young Achievers Award in 2007 for it.[15] He was the youngest recipient of the Bharat Nirman Award in New Delhi.
He also worked in many other MTV shows such as MTV Fully Faltoo Movies, Cheque De India and Jaadoo Ek Baar. He then turned television host with a multiple-talent-based reality show India’s Got Talent on Colors TV, which he co-anchored with Nikhil Chinapa, and Stripped, which gave latest updates on the Indian TV industry with a comic tinge, again on MTV. At the end of the year, he was also the anchor of the singing reality show Music Ka Maha Muqqabla on STAR Plus.
Apart from hosting the second season of MTV Rock On and India’s Got Talent on Colors, he was also a part of the anchoring team of Extra Innings T20 for Indian Premier League Season 3 on SET Max with Gaurav Kapur, Samir Kochhar, and Angad Bedi, following which he took up the offer of anchoring the dance-based reality show Just Dance on STAR Plus.
2012–2015: Film debut and career struggles
Khurrana at an event for Vicky Donor (2012), his film debut
Khurrana made his acting debut in 2012 with Shoojit Sircar’s romantic comedy Vicky Donor, co-starring Annu Kapoor and debutante Yami Gautam. Marking the production debut of actor John Abraham, who cameoed in a promotional song, it starred Khurrana in the titular role of a sperm donor. In preparation, he attended acting workshops and interacted with medical professionals. For the film’s soundtrack, he sang “Pani Da Rang”, which he had written and composed with Rochak Kohli back in 2003. Praising the film’s ensemble cast, Sukanya Verma of Rediff.com wrote that Khurrana’s “candid disposition and roguish face ensures his street smart drollery works like a breeze”. With worldwide earnings of over ₹610 million (US$7.6 million) against a budget of ₹100 million (US$1.3 million), Vicky Donor emerged as a commercial success. At the Filmfare Awards ceremony, Khurrana was awarded trophies for Best Male Debut and Best Male Playback Singer.
In 2013, Khurrana appeared in Forbes India’s Celebrity 100 list, ranking 70th with an estimated annual income of ₹25.8 million (US$320,000).He then collaborated with Kunaal Roy Kapur in Rohan Sippy’s Nautanki Saala! (2013), a comedy based on the French film Après Vous (2005). Anupama Chopra found Khurrana to be “earnest” in it but felt that his comedic work was overshadowed by that of Roy Kapur. He also recorded two songs for the film’s soundtrack. A year later, Khurrana teamed with Yash Raj Films, as part of a three-film deal, in the romantic comedy Bewakoofiyaan (2014), co-starring Sonam Kapoor and Rishi Kapoor, about a young man who has trouble convincing his girlfriend’s father to approve of their marriage. Writing for The New York Times, Andy Webster disliked the film’s “strained, contrived humor” but commended Khurrana for “holding his own opposite [Rishi] Kapoor”.Both Nautanki Saala and Bewakoofiyaan were commercially unsuccessful, as was his next release, Hawaizaada (2015). In it, he played the scientist Shivkar Bapuji Talpade, for which he lost weight and learnt to speak Marathi. In the same year, Khurrana collaborated with his wife, Tahira Kashyap, to write his autobiography Cracking the Code: My Journey to Bollywood.
Khurrana’s career prospects improved when he starred opposite newcomer Bhumi Pednekar in Sharat Katariya’s romance Dum Laga Ke Haisha (2015). It tells the story of an underachieving man who is married against his will to an overweight woman, and marked his first film where he did not sing any of the songs. Anuj Kumar of The Hindu praised him for effectively capturing his character’s “diction and body language”. Despite minimal promotions, the film emerged as a commercial success, grossing over ₹410 million (US$5.1 million) worldwide against its ₹140 million (US$1.8 million) budget.
Personal life
Khurrana was born in Chandigarh. His father P. Khurrana was an astrologer and an author on the subject of astrology who died in 2023, whereas his mother Poonam is a housewife of half-Burmese descent, and a qualified M.A. in Hindi.
While Khurrana remains busy with his work in Mumbai, his family still stays in Chandigarh. His brother Aparshakti Khurana is a radio jockey at Radio Mirchi 98.3 FM in Delhi and made his debut in the 2016 Aamir Khan-starrer film Dangal. The ambience of literature at home influenced Khurrana as well and he took writing as a hobby. He also maintains a blog where he writes in Hindi and it has been received very well by his admirers.
Khurrana married his childhood friend, filmmaker and journalism teacher Tahira Kashyap, in 2010. They have a son and daughter together. Tahira was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2018 but was declared cancer free in 2020. Khuranna credits their belief in Nichiren Buddhism for helping them get through the tough time.
