Ayushmann Khurrana: My parents were proud I backed this love story

Ayushmann Khurrana with his parents. Picture courtesy/Yogen shah

He seems to have done it again. Two days since it dropped online, the trailer of Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan has taken social media by storm. At the centre of the film is the topic of homosexuality - something that a section of India's population is happy to turn a blind eye to. But leave it in the trusted hands of Ayushmann Khurrana, and he will find a way to bring the dialogue into the audience's living rooms.

In what is probably the biggest validation for the actor, he says that his parents, father P Khurrana and mother Poonam, loved the trailer of the same-sex love story. "They saw it on loop and laughed all the way through. They loved it. I was thrilled with their reaction because I realised immediately that the subject and my character have struck a chord with them," smiles Khurrana.

A still from the film

Fortunately, the audience has evolved with time - while Shabana Azmi's same-sex love story Fire was met with fierce resistance from conservative sections of society on its release in 1996, Sonam K Ahuja's Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga and the web series, Made in Heaven, received a largely positive response last year.

Pic/ Instagram

Aiming to take the dialogue further, the Hitesh Kewalya-directed social comedy focuses on how parents ought to be a pillar of support to their children when they come out of the closet. Khurrana acknowledges that it was encouraging to have his family's support for the project. "I always talk to my parents about the films that I decide to do. They said they were proud of me for backing Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan, which gave a strong message in the most entertaining way. They said it was an important film, especially for parents, because it could give them the right message about raising children."

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