THE past decade has seen Ayushmann Khurrana become an in-demand actor, who has had a transformative effect with game-changing films that have expanded the horizons of Hindi cinema and redefined the Bollywood hero.
The increasingly unpredictable actor headlines this week’s big Bollywood release Anek, which is an action-thriller that sees him team up with director Anubhav Sinha after their phenomenal 2019 film Article 15.
Eastern Eye decided to prepare audiences for Anek by looking back at the TV personality turned Bollywood star’s career and ranking every movie he has been in. From entertaining blockbusters and pathbreakers to commercial failures and ones that deserved more credit, see where your favourite Ayushmann-starrer ranks.
16. Hawaizaada (2015): Although visually beautiful, the actor’s fourth film was perhaps the biggest misfire of his career so far. The aviation drama is inspired by Indian inventor Shivkar Bapuji Talpade, who claimed to have constructed the first aircraft to take flight in 1895. No proven historic account it happened made this slow-moving film a pointless effort.
15. Bewakoofiyaan (2014): The actor stars opposite Sonam Kapoor in his third film with an interesting concept that was unable to translate into an entertaining story and, ultimately, became a box office failure. He plays a struggling man, who will do what it takes to win over the disapproving father of the woman he loves, in a formula-driven film that doesn’t get out of second gear.
13. Nautanki Saala! (2012): The actor’s second film didn’t get the credit it perhaps deserved and underperformed at the box office. The comedy-drama based on hit 2003 French film Apres Vous revolves around an actor who tries to reunite a suicidal man with the woman he loves but falls for her. There is clever comedy and a great soundtrack in a film that doesn’t quite meet up to its potential.
12. Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan (2020): The actor’s 14th film was a spiritual sequel to Shubh Mangal Saavdhaan (2017) but didn’t do the expected business despite having a unique concept. The story of a gay man and his partner trying to win over their parents had plenty of flaws, but generally received positive reviews. It has good performances from a standout cast and was another boundary-breaking movie.
10. Shubh Mangal Saavdhaan (2017): This was another taboo-busting film which saw Ayushmann take the traditional Bollywood hero out of his comfort zone. He plays an engaged man trying to cope with erectile dysfunction and suddenly questioning his decision to marry. The actor’s eighth film was praised for its unique storyline and perhaps deserved more credit than it has received.
8. Bala (2019): The satirical black comedy revolves around a man who conceals his baldness to impress a woman. The film that also tackles colourism received mixed reviews but was ultimately a big box office success. His 13th film gave the actor another unique role.
6. Vicky Donor (2012): The actor made his Bollywood debut in the multi-award-winning romantic comedy that broke rules and still became a big success. He plays a sperm donor who becomes wealthy, but soon finds his unusual occupation coming back to haunt him when he falls in love. The story skilfully deals with an important social subject, without losing entertainment value and paved the way for similar such films.
4. Badhaai Ho (2018): The actor’s 10th movie gifted audiences another unique storyline and was a monster hit. He plays a young man who is horrified to discover his middle-aged mother has become pregnant and must cope with the fall-out. The intelligently written comedy received multiple well-deserved awards and spawned spiritual sequel Badhaai Do (2022).
3. Dum Laga Ke Haisha (2015): The romantic comedy received rave reviews right across the board and was the biggest sleeper hit of that year. The story of a man who finds it hard to cope after having an arranged marriage to an overweight woman carved out a unique space for the actor in Indian cinema. His fifth film includes a standout performance from Bhumi Pednekar.
1. Andhadhun (2018): There is a reason why this black comedy crime thriller has been remade in different languages and arguably been Ayushmann’s biggest success. His ninth film as an actor saw him hit top gear in the story of a piano player pretending to be blind, who gets caught up in a murder investigation. The landmark movie won multiple awards and remains the actor's best yet.
Them performing liveNajmuddin Saifuddin Qawwal Group
Her book ' Under Her Root'Facebook/ AA Chaudhuri
Her book 'The School Gates'Facebook/ AA Chaudhuri
The cast of Marriage Material in key moments from the play, including Avita Jay, Kiran Landa, Omar Malik, Irfan Shamji and Anoushka Deshmukh
Sathnam Sanghera’s 'Marriage Material' adapted into bold new play on conformity
The play Marriage Material at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre is Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti’s adaptation of Sathnam Sanghera’s novel of the same name, which first came out in 2013.
She is lucky to have Iqbal Khan direct Marriage Material. The play, a co-production with the Birmingham Rep, is set in the late 1960s. Mr and Mrs Bains (played by Jaz Singh Deol and Avita Jay) run a corner shop in Wolverhampton. Their younger daughter, Surinder (Anoushka Deshmukh), is 16, her sister Kamaljit (Kiran Landa) is just a bit older.
They have a neighbour, Patwant Dhanda (Irfan Shamji), who, as we shall soon see, is not a very pleasant man. In fact, he comes across just as racist as Enoch Powell, who represented Wolverhampton South West for the Tories from 1950 to 1974.
It will be recalled this was a time when Sikhs working on the buses were told they couldn’t wear a turban. That was a hard-fought battle that had to be won.
The Bains, meanwhile, simply want to get their girls married off.
Nothing new here, I thought.
What makes the tale different is that the plot twists and turns down the generations. Mr Dhanda, who has the makings of a paedophile, makes a pitch for one of the girls when Mr Bains dies early in the play. “A life with no man in the house is no life,” he informs the newly widowed Mrs Bains.
Mr Dhanda has a wife but she has returned to India so he considers himself to be a free man.
Surinder’s English teacher from school, Miss Flanagan (Celeste Dodwell), who is also head of the fifth form, tells Mrs Bains about her daughter: “I don’t want to embarrass you, but she is bright. Ridiculously bright.”
She adds: “Mrs Bains, I think it would be a pity if Surinder didn’t stay on at school.” The initial response from Mrs Bains is not encouraging: “Too much education makes people’s brains get mixed up, they don’t sleep at night…”
But she is finally persuaded that Surinder should be allowed to stay on for a while longer before being married off.
Mr Bains was very old school. When Surinder confides she would one day like to be “a somebody”, he is amused that “my daughter wants to be a somebody”.
“Like you,” she tells her father.
Mr Bains consoles his daughter: “We will find a somebody for you to marry.”
At the point of a possible marriage, however, Surinder is sweet-talked by chocolate salesman Jim Wilson (Tommy Belshaw) into running away with him. They share a love of literature, and he calls her “Sue Bains”. But the relationship does not end well.
Once she has left, Surinder is written off as “dead” by her family. The story that is circulated is that she was only 16 when she was killed in a car crash. That’s better than to let on that she ran off with a white man.
By the time she is reconciled with her sister towards the end of the play, a great deal has changed. Kamaljit married Tanvir Banga (Omar Malik), a young man who helped out in the Bains’ corner shop. When the two sisters meet again, Tanvir has also died. But he and Kamaljit had a son, Arjan Banga (Jaz Singh Deol doubles up for this role after the death of Mr Bains). He has come home after his father’s death to help his mother who is still running the family corner shop.
Meanwhile, Mr Dhanda’s business has prospered. He now has a son, Ranjit Dhanda (the role is taken by Omar Malik after Tanvir’s death), and he is nearly as unpleasant as his father.
Arjan has an English fiancée, Claire (Celeste Dodwell). In London, Arjan worked as a creative director. But after deciding to stay in Wolverhampton to help his mother, he decides he cannot marry Claire because she is white. In other words, Asians are not free of racism, either. Happily, at the end, the couple are reconciled.
As for Surinder, she parted company with Jim Wilson after realising he was all talk, depended on her for money and had failed to earn a penny from his literary pretensions. She had prospered, though, as a hotel owner and had been transformed in time into a well-groomed businesswoman. After being tracked down by Arjan, she decides to return to her roots in Wolverhampton and help Kamaljit run the family corner shop. Perhaps 50 years had passed during the passage of the play.
Being subjected to racism turned some Asians into racists themselves. The word goreh (white person) is repeatedly spat out with venom. Maybe it is worth remembering the play’s audience isn’t exclusively Asian – white folk are watching as well. And maybe some of the toilet humour ridiculing white people, which always makes me cringe, could be cut out.
In Sanghera’s novel, there is a quote from Enoch Powell’s speech in November 1968: “The West Indian or Asian does not, by being born in England, become an Englishman. In law he becomes a United Kingdom citizen by birth; in fact, he is a west Indian or an Asian still... he will by the very nature of things have lost one country without gaining another, lost one nationality without acquiring a new one. Time is running out against us and them. With the lapse of a generation or so we shall at last have succeeded – to the benefit of nobody – in reproducing ‘in England’s green and pleasant land’ the haunting tragedy of the US.”
In Marriage Material, where the acting is marvellous (apart from Mr Dhanda’s Indian mannerisms and accent being overdone) we do travel across a couple of generations.
There is a scene when Tanvir rejects Mr Dhanda’s vision of creating a little Punjab in Wolverhampton.
Mr Dhanda wants to take over the Bains’ corner shop and is putting pressure on Tanvir to sign the papers. He says: “In this country, money is the path to freedom.”
“Sign, please,” he instructs Tanvir. “We must make sure our children learn to behave nicely, according to our rules.”
He insists: “We maintain our identity so we can be ourselves.”
Tanvir disagrees: “We can be us here. With the goreh.”
Dhanda warns him: “Then we will be inviting chaos.”
Tanvir’s comment is telling: “You sound like Enoch.”
Kamaljit, who is expecting a baby with her husband Tanvir, says: “I would like my child to grow up knowing the history of the Gurus and to read the Granth Sahib. And to love their culture.”
Tanvir tells his wife: “I would like my child to go to the finest schools, to cheer for England in the World Cup and eat Yorkshire pudding on a Sunday.”
Kamaljit sets out a dream that has perhaps come to pass with many third and fourth generation British Asians: “Maybe our child can do both.” Much, much later, in a throwback to the past, we learn of Surinder’s O-level results: “Biology A, Chemistry A, English Language A, English Literature A, French A, History B, Latin A, Mathematics A, Physics A…”
Kamaljit tells her younger sister: “Never mind about the B.”
And that is quintessentially Asian. Their acting is outstanding.
Marriage Material is at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre until June 21, and at the Birmingham Rep from June 25-July 5