Ayushmann Khurrana On Handling Success And The Worst Things He’s Read About Himself

Ayushmann Khurrana has been having a great year, with two back-to-back hits in Badhaai Ho and Andhadhun. "Success is a very lousy teacher. Your failures and rejections, they are your friends, philosophers and guides in life," said the actor in a conversation for Idea 4G Meri Real Life. He also spoke about how curated the images on his Instagram account are, reading rumours of his death in 2014 and how his life changed after Vicky Donor.

ON HOW MUCH THOUGHT GOES INTO THE PICTURES HE POSTS

There's a thought behind the pictures that my stylist takes because I was very callous with the pictures I used to take earlier. I used to pose a lot. So she was like, "Don't pose that much." I was over-posing for the pictures. Yahan toh subtle acting mat karne do matlab yahan toh at least kuch kar sakta hoon alag. I used to just do random things. She was like, "Don't smile, don't smile too much. Enough of you smiling, just look pissed off. Enough of your cute self, just be hot for a change." So I don't know what their thinking is. She's like, "Don't smile, you'll be hot." Bass yahi hai.

ON BECOMING A DIFFERENT PERSON AFTER VICKY DONOR

As long as the negative comments are less than the positive comments, you're fine. Itne nahi milte waise, negative comments. Initially milte honge because after Vicky Donor, mera dimaag kharab ho gaya tha. I thought I've arrived. Then three films back to back didn't do well, like "Okay, I'm not there. Not quite arrived." Life teaches you a lot. Success is a very lousy teacher. I've said this before also. Your failures and rejections, they are your friends, philosophers and guides in life. They give you a good perspective. They keep you balanced. I was suffering a lot personally also at that time, immediately after Vicky Donor. I had no time for her (his wife), so it was quite crazy. That time there were four of us together – me, Varun (Dhawan), Arjun (Kapoor) and Sidharth (Malhotra). There were four debutantes in 2012, all together. There was this weird competition. I had not faced that at any time in my life.I was like: Yeh kya ho raha hai yahan pe? So that was the only time I thought it was going a little dark, being more competitive maybe, in my head. But that was for a brief period of time. I'm not that person any more.

ON THE WORST THINGS HE'S READ ABOUT HIMSELF ONLINE

2014, there was a rumour of my death in Switzerland. Usme likha tha: He was there for a shoot in Switzerland. Maine kaha, "Meri film aaj tak Haridwar se aage nahi gayi hai. Switzerland mein kahan se shoot ho raha hai mera?" So there was this rumour, (that I had been) skiing. It's too fancy for me. My parents were really worried but then they said, "Haan Switzerland toh kabhi gaya hi nahi aaj tak toh kaise ho sakta hai?" 

There was this brief period of time between Hawaizaada and Dum Laga Ke Haisa. Immediately after Hawaizaada, they were like, "You're gone." Hawaizaada was the biggest disaster of my life. People thought that I'm done, I should pack my bags and go to Chandigarh. And those 27 days were so difficult. There were tweets all over – "You should go back to television, or hone your hosting skills even more because you need them more." Those 27 days were really bad. I went back to Chandigarh, I was just with friends, not in Bombay at all, but when I used to open my account, I used to get all the negativity at that time. Dum Laga Ke Haisha trailer came out, then everything was positive. Those two-three weeks were really bad. Thank God it was only three weeks. It affected me a lot at that time. Even after Dum Laga Ke Haisha, the film became successful, but there were a lot of people commenting, "Flop actor." I used to think that I should tweet them back: Dum Laga Ke Haisha did pretty well for its size, it was a small film. I'm proud of that film. But then I realised there's no point writing or maybe giving them that rebuttal that it's a hit film, it's made this much. If you are a hit actor, nobody will tweet that. So I was like, "Just work in silence, choose good scripts. Nobody will say that you're a flop actor."

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