'Dream Girl 2' a frontbencher, massy film: Ayushmann Khurrana

At the core of Dream Girl 2, the sequel to Ayushmann Khurrana's 2019 film, is comedy and the actor says the movie is a pure entertainer that caters to all kinds of audiences.

The actor has tackled various social and taboo subjects in his cinema, be it sperm donation in Vicky Donor, fat shaming in Dum Laga Ke Haisha, erectile dysfunction in Shubh Mangal Saavdhan, or premature baldness in Bala.

Dream Girl 2, however, tonally follows its predecessor.

"It's a slapstick film, a frontbencher, massy film. We are not really touching on any issue here. It's a movie where you don't have to take your brains to the cinema. It's not a woke film," Ayushmann told PTI in an interview.

“Dream Girl was something that gave me the highest box office of my career. It really set the tone right and we've taken that tonality forward. So, this is a more tier-2 or tier-3, not just multiplexes but also single screen kind of cinema," he added.

Directed by Raaj Shaandilyaa, Dream Girl featured Ayushmann as Karam, a man known for making a living by impersonating a female voice known as Pooja. The film, which also featured Nushrratt Bharuccha, Annu Kapoor, Manjot Singh, Vijay Raaz, and Abhishek Banerjee, turned out to be one of the highest-grossing movies of 2019.

Four years later, Ayushmann and his gang return with the sequel but the question was how to make the follow-up better than the first part.

"The biggest inspiration for this movie was the love from the audience for 'Dream Girl'. And, of course, that triggers you to do something else or maybe go to the next level with better and higher stakes. We were always thinking, how should we do this? "And Raaj came up with this brilliant idea that Pooja should be revealed, like in the whole flesh and blood. And not just the sound, but also the visuals in the film as Pooja. So that's the next level we've cracked in Dream Girl 2," he said.

In Dream Girl 2, scheduled to be released in theatres on August 25, Ayushmann reprises his role of Karam, who decides to cross-dress as Pooja to make enough money to marry the love of his life, played by Ananya Panday.

Dream Girl 2 is produced by Ektaa R Kapoor's Balaji Motion Pictures.