Dream Girl: Ayushmann Khurrana reveals the secret behind his voice

Ayushmann Khurrana and Nushrat Bharucha in a still from the interview. Pic: Youtube/midday india

Ayushmann Khurrana made his debut in 2012 and ever since then, the actor has proved his mettle with slice-of-life films, a far cry from the typical Bollywood superhero. From playing a sperm donor in his debut film to playing a righteous police officer solving a rape case in his last outing, the 34-year-old actor has had a brilliant journey in Bollywood.

He is now gearing up for the release of his next film, Dream Girl. And just like his any other movie outing, Dream Girl is no different. In the romantic comedy, Ayushmann essays the role of a young man imitating female voices which leads to hilarious results. A fortnight ago, the makers dropped the trailer which was lauded by the critics and audience alike. The movie also stars Pyar ka Punchnama actress Nushrat Bharucha.

In an exclusive chat with mid-day, the duo spilled some beans about their characters. Ayushmann revealed that for him, mimicking and that too in a female voice is not new. He admitted that he had mimicked in a female voice when he was a teenager. "I have mimicked in a female voice when I was 14 years old. I used to call my first girlfriend, and most of the times her dad used to pick up the call, forcing me to imitate in a female voice," the actor said.

During his college days, the Bareilly Ki Barfi actor used to mimic voices of Shah Rukh Khan, Amrish Puri, Gulshan Grover, and Nana Patekar. The actor also gave us a sample of his talent in the interview by imitating the voice of Shah Rukh. Want to see?

Check out the video here:

For the film, Ayushmann's inspiration was Govinda's character in Aunty No 1, Kamal Hassan playing the role of a woman in Chachi 420, and Kishore Kumar singing in a female voice for the song 'Aake Seedhi Lagi'.

But was it difficult for him to get into the shoes of a woman, imitating her voice and that too in a seductive tone? "It was, definitely", he quickly added: "But as a guy, you know what a guy wants. So you know the right buttons to press. That's an advantage of being a guy. I had to just hit the right notes through multiple takes."

While director Raaj Shaandilyaa had originally planned to have a woman dub for the part, he was so impressed with Khurrana's version that he decided to retain it in the film. "It was important that I dub for myself because the punches would die if you use someone else's voice. I gave it a shot, and fortunately, it worked. Raaj had given me the references of a few men, who prank people by talking like a woman. I studied those videos extensively," says Khurrana.

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Just like Ayushmann, even Nushrat was blown away by the concept of the film. Calling this as an absolutely funny one and a no-brainer, the actress said that she was in splits during the entire hour of narration. "I was like this is it, I had to be a part of it," she said.

Praising her co-star and director Raaj Shaandilyaa, she added, "Raaj had the perfect grip on his story. I was really happy to find Ayushmann as my co-star. I was always looking forward to work with him."

Also Read: Dream Girl: Ayushmann Khurrana's Dry Day dialogue promo will leave you in splits

Nushrat also said that she now wants to see Ayushmann portraying a negative character. "Something like Tom Hardy in the Dark Knight Rises. He is so subtle that he will make a perfect negative character. Also looking at his past films, nobody would expect him to do such kinds of roles."

But is Ayushmann looking forward to play such characters? "I used to do a lot of negative role in theatre, but not in films. This is because I am in no hurry to do that. I am looking for a good script. I would like to do a larger-than-life film, something like a Rohit Shetty film. But in that too, it has to be something different," the actor concludes.

Apart from the duo, the movie also stars Annu Kapoor, Vijay Raaz, Manjot Singh, Nidhi Bisht, Rajesh Sharma, Abhishek Banerjee, and Raj Bhansali. Directed by Raaj Shaandilyaa, and produced by Shobha Kapoor, Ekta Kapoor's Balaji Telefilms, Dream Girl is all set to release on September 13, 2019.

Also Read: Watch Video: Ayushmann Khurrana's epic transformation as Dream Girl

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Video transcribed by Anshul Vipat