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Ayushmann Khurrana says wife Tahira ‘cried’ when he revealed he wanted to become actor: ‘With that face?’

Ayushmann Khurrana recently shared the reactions his family, including his wife Tahira Kashyap, had when he revealed his desire to become an actor.

Ayushmann Khurrana opens up about how Shah Rukh Khan inspired him in his acting journey. (Credit: Instagram/@tahirakashyap, Facebook/@IamSRK)

Hailing from a non-film background, Ayushmann Khurrana’s entry into Bollywood was a result of sheer hard work and perseverance. After beginning his professional life as a radio personality, Ayushmann transitioned to a television host and kept auditioning for films amid all that before eventually landing the lead role in director Shoojit Sircar’s Vicky Donor (2012). In a recent interview, Ayushmann opened up about the reactions his family, including his wife Tahira Kashyap, had when he revealed his desire to become an actor.

Recalling the time both of them were pursuing post-graduation at Panjab University, he shared that he and Tahira had already started dating by then and that he eventually wanted to marry her. “One day, she asked me, ‘What are you planning to do in life? How will you earn money?’ I told her that I wanted to be an actor. She started laughing and crying at the same time, thinking, ‘How will you become an actor with that face?’ I was a nerd; no one would have predicted that I would become an actor just by looking at my face. Even she didn’t believe in me. I lived on self-belief,” he shared during a conversation with Pinkvilla.

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Mentioning that he studied science in Classes 11 and 12, the Thamma actor said that although he cleared the entrance exam for a dental college in Karnataka, he gave that up to pursue acting. “My father put a condition that if I wanted to do arts and theatre, I had to be a topper in college. I topped my college for three years because I wanted to pursue a career in theatre. It was difficult, but he wanted something good to happen. Since I was a Shah Rukh Khan fan, I felt it was better to be an educated actor; there’s no one more intelligent than him. Following in his footsteps, I also studied Mass Communication and eventually landed in Mumbai,” he added.

Opening up about how Bollywood’s Baadshah Shah Rukh Khan inspired him in his journey, Ayushmann took a trip down memory lane and recalled an incident from 2007. “During my first year in Mumbai, I used to go to a gym in Andheri. From there, I could see a large hoarding featuring a poster of Om Shanti Om (2007). I often wondered if one of my own posters would ever be displayed similarly someday. When Vicky Donor was released, its poster went up in that very spot and I remember standing beneath that hoarding, crying.”

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