Ayushmann Khurrana

Early life and education

Khurrana was born in Chandigarh to Poonam and P. Khurrana, and studied at St. John’s High School and DAV College in Chandigarh. He majored in English literature and has a master's degree in Mass Communication from the School of Communication Studies, Panjab University, in Chandigarh. He did serious theatre for five years. He was also the founding member of DAV College's "Aaghaaz" and "Manchtantra", which are active theatre groups in Chandigarh. He has conceptualised 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 Simla. He also won a Best Actor award for playing Ashwatthama in Dharamvir Bharati’s Andha Yug.

2004–2011: Television Shows and Early Career

Ayushmann Khurrana got noticed on TV at the age of 17. It was the reality show on Channel V; PopStars in 2002. He was one of the youngest contestants on the show. Roadies took place in 2004 whereby he turned out to be the winner in Roadies 2 at the age of 20. After completing his graduation and post-graduation in Journalism, his first job was as a radio jockey 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. He was the youngest recipient of the Bharat Nirman Award in New Delhi.

After radio, Khurrana moved on to become a Video Jockey on MTV with Pepsi MTV Wassup, The Voice of Youngistaan, an informative show for the youth.

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 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, Khurrana 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. Instead of hosting the 3rd season of India's Got Talent, Khurrana took up the offer of anchoring the dance-based reality show Just Dance on STAR Plus judged by Hrithik Roshan, Vaibhavi Merchant and Farah Khan.

2012–present: Film Debut and Early Success

In 2012, he made his Bollywood debut with Shoojit Sircar's Vicky Donor opposite Yami Gautam. The film marked actor John Abraham's debut as a producer. He portrays Vicky Arora who marries a Bengali girl without telling her about his past as a sperm donor. Despite its small budget, the movie became a major commercial success and received critical acclaim. For the film, he also sang the song "Pani Da Rang" composed by him and Rochak Kohli. Both the movie and song were well received. Khurrana received critical acclaim for his performance. Taran Adarsh notes: "Ayushmann is a complete natural, has all the trappings of a fine actor and delivers a super confident performance". Gaurav Malani adds that Khurrana "is so natural that it never seems he's acting but rather gliding through the role. He is a pro at both the comedy and emotional scenes". Khurrana went on to receive many accolades for his performance, including the Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut and the Filmfare Award for Best Male Playback Singer. He won all the debut awards for Vicky Donor.

In spite of his successful Bollywood debut, Khurrana did not quit television completely, and was seen anchoring the IIFA Awards 2012, People's Choice Awards India 2012 and the Screen Awards 2013. Riffing off the plot of Vicky Donor, Khurrana later appeared in a PETA ad campaign, encouraging pet owners to have their dogs and cats sterilized.

Khurrana was next seen in Rohan Sippy's Nautanki Saala co-starring Pooja Salvi, Kunal Roy Kapoor and Evelyn Sharma. The film opened to positive reviews from critics, with Taran Adarsh stating that the film was "uncontaminated, witty and amusing". Nautanki Saala was released on 12 April 2013. The film proved to be a moderate success at the box office, earning approx. ₹210 million (US$3.3 million) at the domestic box office.

Khurrana's first film of 2014 was Yash Raj Films's Bewakoofiyaan, directed by Nupur Asthana, in which he starred alongside Sonam Kapoor and Rishi Kapoor. He was also the playback singer for "Khamkhaan" from the same movie, with Neeti Mohan. The film released on 14 March 2014 to mixed reviews. His performance was well received by critics. Anupama Chopra of Hindustan Times praised Khuranna's performance, saying: "The strongest performance here is Ayushmann's. His anger and frustration at losing the good life are palpable". He has also played the scientist Shivkar Bapuji Talpade in a movie titled Hawaizaada (earlier titled Bambai Fairytale) which also failed at the box office. Khurrana starred in Sharat Katariya-directed Dum Laga Ke Haisha. The film opened to good reviews, whereas critics appreciated the acting of Ayushmann, the film was a major box office success under production of Yash Raj Films. He has been nominated in the critics category for the Stardust Awards.

Commercial success

As of February 2016, Khurrana is filming Sameer Sharma's romance Manmarziyan opposite Bhumi Pednekar. He is also starring in Akshay Roy's romance drama Meri Pyaari Bindu opposite Parineeti Chopra. He will be seen with Bhumi Pednekar in the movie Shubh Mangal Savdhan (2017 film). The movie is said to release on 1 September 2017 in India.

Personal life

Khurrana was born in Chandigarh. His father P Khurrana is a politician, astrologer and an author on the subject of astrology, whereas his mother Poonam is a house wife of Burmese descent and a qualified M.A. in Hindi. While Ayushmann remains busy with his work in Mumbai, his family still stays in Chandigarh. His brother Aparshakti Khurrana is a radio jockey at OYE 104.8 FM in Delhi and made his debut in the 2016 Aamir Khan-starrer film Dangal. The ambiance of literature at home influenced Khurrana as well and he took to writing as a hobby. He also maintains a blog where he writes in Hindi and it has been received very well by his admirers. He is married to his childhood friend Tahira. He has two children, a son and a daughter. His son, Virajveer, was born on 2 January 2012 and his daughter, Varushka, was born on 21 April 2014.