Ayushmann Khurrana says Vicky Donor taught him to be 'gutsy & risky about content choices'

Bollywood actor and singer Ayushmann Khurrana celebrated nine years of his debut film, Vicky Donor. In the interview with Free Press Journal, the actor revealed that the film told him ‘to dream, to be bold, to be gutsy and risky about content choices’. He added that most importantly, ‘it told him that audiences want to see a different form of heroism on screen’. The Dreamgirl actor said that the audiences want ‘something real, relatable, endearing and want to see good cinema that has clutter-breaking stories’.

Ayushmann Khurrana celebrates nine years of Vicky Donor

Ayushmann said that it has been nine years since Vicky Donor’s release and it ‘definitely seems like it happened yesterday’. He stated that he was ‘confident of the script but very jittery about the response that he would receive as a lead actor’. He recalled how his family told him that the audience would ‘welcome him because he had put in his best’. He stated that he ‘owes so much to the film’.

The versatile actor further credited the film’s director Shoojit Sircar for his ‘fantastic debut’ that became a runaway success at the box office. He said that he owes ‘everything to the director for his vision and trust in him as an actor’. He said that the film was ‘trying to change the language of Indian cinema and he is proud to have been a part of it’.

Ayushmann Khurrana's latest Instagram post also celebrated nine years of the film's release. The actor dropped a picture of himself watching Vicky Donor. He could be seen sporting Vicky Donor’s black tee and posing looking in the direction of his TV where Vicky Donor was playing. As for the caption, he penned a long note recalling the moments of his debut film. He wrote, “f I look back now, it seems like yesterday. The year 2012 and now it’s 2021. Coincidentally they’re the same jumbled digits. This shot reminds me of composing the line “kothe utte baeh ke akhiyaan milaunde”, I had written this verse of Paani Da Rang while I was shooting on this location, close to Rajouri Garden in Delhi”.

He added, “With perpetual butterflies in my stomach, I shot for this film, playing cricket or football with shoojit da, post pack up, every single day. Thank you Shoojit da for being a great mentor. Thank you Juhi for coming up with this benchmark of a script and altering the course of Hindi cinema”. “Thank you Ronnie da for being the coolest producer. And thank you big bro John Abraham for backing this gem”, he said. Ayushmann concluded his note, “I owe it to you guys! Thank you Yami, Annu ji, Dolly ji, Veera, Negi ji, Jogi ji and the entire team. Thank you universe for realising my big Bollywood dream”.

The 2012 romantic comedy-drama's plot revolved around the background of sperm donation and infertility within a Bengali-Punjabi household. Vicky Donor cast also included Yami Gautam and Annu Kapoor in the lead roles. The film was later remade in Telugu as Naruda Donoruda (2016) and in Tamil as Dharala Prabhu (2020).