We have seen many success stories of actors who went from Telly to Bolly and Ayushmann Khurrana is one of them. He started off as a Television anchor and later tried his hands at Bollywood with a debut film like Vicky Donor. The film directed by Shoojit Sircar was a small budget film which in spite of being low on star values, became a super-hit thanks to its content. The film marked the debut of Ayushmann and he received a lot of praises for his character as the quintessential North Indian guy.
Vicky Donor released in 2012 and won him awards for the best debutante male. The film started well and managed to pull off a decent first weekend collection of 7.65 crores. Thanks to a great word of mouth publicity, the film became a super hit at the box office with a collection of 40.01 crores at the domestic box office. Later Ayushmann was seen in Rohan Sippy’s Nautanki Saala. The film was panned by the critics for its story and also it turned out to be a disappointing performance from Ayushmann’s side. But it made a good weekend collection of 13.25 crores and that has been the highest for any Ayushmann film. With a lifetime collection of the 21 crores, the film became a plus affair.
Vicky Donor, Nautanki Saala and Bewakoofiyan Movie Poster
A two-film-old Ayushmann fell prey to typecasting in Bollywood and hence his next film too could not work wonders for him as he starred in YRF’s romantic comedy Bewakoofiyaan with Sonam Kapoor. The film met with average responses but Ayushmann was criticized for his patent Delhi lad image. Bewakoofiyaan made a first weekend business of 7 crores and the film was declared a flop at the box office with a collection of minimal 14 crores.
Post a YRF disaster, it was a crucial period for Ayushmann’s career since he had to not only stay away from becoming a stereotypical character but also prove his acting worth other than his singing stints which were not gaining him much. When the news of Ayushmann signing a biopic made the news, there was quite a lot of buzz and it was a clear desperate attempt from his side to break-through the North Indian image that the audience had made of him.
Hawaizaada unfortunately turned out to be Khurrana’s biggest disappointment as the film was trashed by the critics. It was already a poorly promoted film and with a negative word from the critics, it sank even more. The film started off low and collected 2 crores on its first weekend. Hawaizaada folded in major circuits in its first week itself, thus making a collection of merely 3 crores at the domestic box office. This is Ayushmann’s lowest performance so far.
Hawaizaada and Dum Laga Ke Haisha Movie Poster
Well, just when Ayushmann’s new year was seeming gloomy with Hawaizaada‘s performance, his next Dum Laga Ke Haisha was up for release in only a few weeks from the previous one. The YRF film was hardly promoted and was released in just two weeks from its trailer release. Looking at the low-scale promotions and not-so-impressive trailers, this could have been his yet another dud but the film came by as a surprise to all. Dum Laga Ke Haisha received a lot of praises from the critics and well we must say Ayushmann’s ship has sailed thanks to this film. The film has made a collection of 6 crores on its first weekend and well that’s quite decent. It may not become a box office success but the film has definitely given a new lease of life to Ayushmann’s dropping career graph.
Not only has Dum Laga Ke Haisha become a savior for Khurrana but also for YRF which has had a difficult time so far. Even though the recent success has paved way for him, Ayushmann will have to be cautious with the choice of films further.
