We have great chemistry on screen: Ayushmann Khurrana

Ayushmann Khurrana and Bhumi Pednekar are starring in their second film together. While their first movie was about an over-weight woman, their second film handles the tricky subject of erectile dysfunction. In a candid chat, they talk about their upcoming film, their equation with each other and why small-town movies are working big time.

Erectile dysfunction is a topic that can be tricky to deal with, were you conscious of the innuendos made or the terms used while you were shooting?

Ayushmann: You have to use certain metaphors and we can’t be really direct with it because it is a family film. That’s why using words like gufa and the biscuit breaking in the chai scene that you see in the trailer. However, at the same time you have to make a movie that has an undertone of the message that manliness is not just about getting it up, it is also about things like taking a stand on different issues — at home at workplace, how you treat a woman... that’s the sum total of your manliness, it’s not just about your sexual prowess, that’s just a part of it. Such a movie is the need of the hour.

Bhumi: Luckily, for us all this was taken care of at the script level itself that’s why I became a part of it. The novelty was that you are speaking of a sexual taboo. But there’s nothing inappropriate or sexual that we are showing that can’t be shared with all ages and sections, and that’s why it was win-win for me. We are speaking about erectile dysfunction, but at no point are we making fun of it or being insensitive towards it, or ridiculing men, who are suffering from it or women whose partners are facing it, and that’s the beauty of this film.

Be it Dum laga Ke Haisha, Toilet: Ek Prem Katha or Bareilly Ki Barfi, why is it that the audience is favouring movies set in smaller towns?

A: Sometimes it’s the treatment that really matters. Like Bareilly Ki Barfi, it’s a love triangle, but it’s the subject that makes it different and watchable. Having said that, I have had movies like Vicky Donor, Dum Laga Ke Haisha and now Shubh Mangal Saavdhan, that are a marriage of content and entertainment. It can’t be a documentary. It has to be well-matched with entertainment and humour. It’s mostly that unusual germ of a story in a usual setting. Here the unusual germ is about erectile dysfunction and a conservative, middle-class family is the setting. This combination becomes awkward and that awkwardness brings out a lot of humour.

B: Yes, 70 per cent of our country is your B and C centres or your smaller towns and they are not unaware of what’s happening around. Even though Dum Laga Ke Haisha was set in a smaller town, we are speaking about body shaming or body image. In Toilet... we talk about open defecation. One may think that it’s a problem that affects rural India, but it’s an issue not only Indians, but also people around the world have to deal with. These are the stories that we want to watch as urban people. We have watched enough of Switzerland and LA. Today, the world has become really small. Today, Switzerland doesn’t excite me, but these are the stories that I am unaware of. Also, there has been a wave of nationalism that has come suddenly where we are interested in India. We are proud to be Indians, which had lessened in the ’90s. Back then, there was this wave of wanting to go abroad, whether it was to study, work, or whatever. Now, everyone is coming back home. People want to watch these heartland stories. People want to know what’s happening in their neighbourhood, what’s the psyche. These are the things that haven’t been tapped into and cinema is all about newness. It’s not about fantasy anymore. You take reality and turn it into somebody’s fantasy. That’s why it appeals to people so much.

Do you think urban India doesn’t have interesting stories to tell?

B: There are stories in urban areas too, but those have been tapped into. Things that haven’t been tapped into are stories like Shubh Mangal Saavdhan where we discuss a modern-day relationship, boy and girl. Erectile dysfunction or performance anxiety is a problem that people have been suffering for years, but people look at it as an urban phenomenon, because people think that people in urban areas have sex openly, which is not true. You can tap into an urban story, but you can’t give me the same triangle, or hero chasing heroines heroine chasing hero in different locations. Find a unique story and people will watch it.

A: Most of our nation, 70 per cent of India, is non-urban, that’s the way to connect to real India, which dwells in the primary sector. So, of course, the connect is more. Mumbai is like New York, it’s the same as Bengaluru and Delhi. It’s just a micro part of our nation, but yes, urbanisation is happening in rapid pace. Mostly people from non-urban areas are coming to urban areas and when they go to the theatres and find a connect with these heartland films, they are the ones who consume it the most. For the urban population, it has this exotic factor. They get amused by seeing such things. They are like ‘yeh hota hai humare India mein’. Like, before I saw Toilet: Ek Prem Katha I didn’t know that open defecation was such a big problem. With Shubh Mangal Savadhan, I feel that we don’t talk about problem related to men like erctile dsyfunction openly.  That’s hypocrisy and we should talk about it openly.

You guys have worked together in Dum Laga Ke Haisha, has the working equation changed?

A: Bhumi is one of the most brilliant and committed actresses around. She is the only one who has done that kind of physical transformation. You don’t see actors or actresses go through real physical transformation, only Aamir Khan had done that that in Dangal. That just shows her commitment in the craft and that’s a rarity, and we have great chemistry on screen.

B: It’s been an amazing journey. We have just become better friends and colleagues. We really have the confidence to tell each other whether or not something is working. We work on scenes, and on each other’s performance, too. As people, we haven’t really changed. I have lost 35 kgs, but nothing else has changed.