When Ayushmann was told, 'We only work with stars, can't work with you'

Ayushmann Khurrana

Ayushmann Khurrana's excerpt from his 2015 book, Cracking the Code: My Journey in Bollywood, about Karan Johar's production house refusing to work with him in his early days, has gone viral. Sushant Singh Rajput's death has made anything that reeks of nepotism followed on social media.

In the book, Khurrana recalls that he once interviewed the filmmaker while working as a radio jockey. When he told him about his acting ambitions, Johar had given him his office number. But when he called for a meeting, he was bluntly told, "We only work with stars, and can't work with you.

Years later, when Khurrana featured as a guest on Johar's chat show, he had reminded him about the incident, but the filmmaker had no memory of it.

On the work front, Ayushmann Khurrana was last seen in Gulabo Sitabo, also starring Amitabh Bachchan. The film had an OTT release owing to the coronavirus pandemic and resulting lockdown.

Speaking about working with 'idol' Amitabh Bachchan, Ayushmann told mid-day, "It's hard to be a professional actor around your screen idol. I am glad he wasn't playing himself - the alpha male with a [deep] baritone. He was playing a character, wearing deceitful make-up. So, there wasn't a hint of the legend on set. But after pack-up every day, I would pinch myself to believe that I was, in fact, sharing screen space with him."

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