New Delhi:
Ayushmann Khurrana's career touched new heights after his offbeat dark comedy AndhaDhun created box office wonders. The movie went on to get Ayushmann his career's first National Award. Believe it or not, but the 34-year-old actor was not the first choice for the movie.
Director Sriram Raghavan during a chat at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne revealed that several well-known actors turned down AndhaDhun before Ayushmann came on board to play the role of pianist pretending to be visually impaired until he actually goes blind.
Raghavan was at Melbourne to receive the best director award when he revealed that he while was not able to convince top-notch actors to be a part of his vision, others said the movie is not one that can give big box office numbers.
“A lot of big actors said no to the film. They couldn’t understand how the movie would pan out. At the time, we didn’t have the complete script. And I was like, if they can’t understand it now, then it’s fine because they won’t suit the role,” the filmmaker said.
Raghavan did not have Ayushmann in his mind until the actor volunteered to audition for the part. Further revealing that the 'Dream Girl' learned piano for the film he recounted how the actor said that while he knew how to play the guitar, he would learn the keys for the film.
Sriram says it was the enthusiasm that convinced him that Ayshmann was apt for the role. Once the film’s casting was complete, he knew that he had found exactly what he the story demanded — an actor who was well-versed with musical instruments and could take to piano easily and an actress (Tabu) who could take on Simi so effortlessly.
The director also shared that even when they were shooting for a dark film the cast and crew had lots of fun on the sets. He said, “I remember the crazy journey all of us took. The film is good crazy and good mad. We experienced that first hand. We were literally living it, it was organic and it was a great journey.”
Actor-filmmaker Thiagarajan has bagged the Tamil remake rights of Andhadhun and his son Prashanth, who is also a trained piano player might reprise the role played by Ayushmann Khurrana. The father-actor duo also remade Sriram Raghavan’s Johnny Gaddar in Tamil, titled Johnny.
