Ayushmann Khurrana: I was playing safe by taking up conventional films

Ayushmann Khurrana began his career in Bollywoood with a high. His debut vehicle, Vicky Donor was quirky but successful.What followed for him were the generic career slumps. His next film, Hawaizaada is a part-fictitious, part-real story based on the popular conspiracy theory that the first person to fly a plane was an Indian. In an exclusive interview, Ayushmann reveals about his preparation for a character about whom there is no reference available, his rendition of Ghalib's ghazal and how he prefers being unconventional.Here are a few excerpts:How much of fact have you blended with fiction for Hawaizaada?Hawaizaada is based on a conspiracy theory, on the life of Shivkar Talpade who made the world's first aircraft. Since there was practically nothing known about the man, we took certain creative liberties to weave our own world based on the available facts.What were your cues for the look you don in the film?As far as the looks were concerned, there was no visual reference available. A hazy sketch was all we had to begin work from. The idea we gathered from the sketch was very vague - a Maharashtrian headgear with a tilak is all we knew. Now, the picture was a middle-aged picture of his. We wanted to show him young in this film. Since this is an underdog film, our intention was to show him as vulnerable. We worked for two months before cracking this look. The glasses, we thought, adds charm to the character.READ: Taapsee There was barely anything written about this person. There was an odd article on the internet that says in 1895, he was the person who flew the world's first plane at Chowpatty. It flew for 18 minutes in front of 500 people. Amongst those present were Bal Gangadhar Tilak. It is touted to be a popular conspiracy theory but many claim it's true and since India was a colony, the British didn't let the information reach out to people. It's a mix of real and fiction. It surely happened but how successful was it, is something one can't be sure of.Did you guys trace down the Talpade's family?Talpade's family stays in Nukkadwadi in South Bombay. His descendants did not go beyond 1950s but his distant relatives have helped us. I have met them. Vibhu has remained in constant touch with them when they were constructing the story. It seems they have been awaiting a validation like this for the last 150 years.You have a heavy Punjabi twang. How difficult was it getting the Marathi diction right for the film?My Hindi has always been better than my Punjabi. My mother is half-Burmese so she anyway cannot speak Punjabi a lot. I think that impression comes from the fact that I have played a lot of Punjabi characters since I came to the industry. I was dying to a biopic or a period film where I could exploit my linguistic skills. I was always pretty adept in Sanskrit which is the root of all languages. Grasping newer languages, hence comes easier to me. It's been 6 years in Mumbai and I understand Marathi completely. For this film, I had to rehearse a lot but I got it right eventually.How does a Ghalib ghazal fit in your scheme of things? Yes, it was a bold move and purists have their qualms. This is a very commercial rendition of Mirza Ghalib but I have composed it as a song. There is another rendition that I have composed and is sung by Mohan Kanan of Agnee band. His is a typical ghazal with a classical tinge.How was it working with Pallavi?Pallavi is sharp and really intelligent. Her parents are from IIT and are professors in Australia. She is professional lawyer. The pre-requisite for this character was to have a trained classical dancer and her Bharatnatyam skills came handy. There is a small love-track but it is very crucial to the story.You earlier said that the film has references from the Vedas. Can you elaborate?We have quoted shlokas from Vedas. There are many mythological references. Of course, there are scientific reference too in the film but we have built a unique milieu in the film. We have kept the science part of it very basic. It is easy to make a film like this incomprehensible but we want audiences to connect with the soul of the film.Your last few films didn't perform exceptionally well. How do you perceive it?I was probably playing safe in the middle, taking up conventional films which cater better to the audiences' acumen. I began with an unconventional film and now I am back with another unconventional film. This is the era of unconventional films. Be it Queen, Haider or PK, they all emerged as the three biggest hits of last year despite being unconventional movies.This film is part-biopic. After this, will you be interested in doing a pure biopic?Ofcourse, I will. I think we should make a biopic on Sachin. I would love to play Sachin. I am a die-hard fan of his.Follow TOI Entertain on Twitter Like TOI Entertain on Facebook WATCH: ​Ayushman Khurana talks about his struggling days