Ayushmann Khurana calls India a homophobic country after his recent box office failures

Ayushmann Khurana recently addressed the reason why his last three films—Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui, Anek and Doctor G, performed poorly at the box office. The actor who is known for progressive films, shared it’s unfortunate that India is 'homophobic'. His film Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui highlights a social message on the LGBTQ community. The film started off with ₹3.75 crore on its opening day in India and was effected by rising number of covid cases later. It wrapped up with a business of ₹33.64 crore gross as per reports. His following films, Anek and Doctor G earned as low as ₹9.7 crore and ₹ 31.49 crore gross at the domestic ticket window.

When asked if Ayushmann is affected after his consecutive films underperforming, he called himself ‘unshakable.’ He explained how his films fared overall and told OTT play, “I started with movies on taboo subjects. I suppose the type of subjects—it has to be a community viewing, and it has to have a wider film—the kids have also been watching. In fact, my last three films, including an LGBTQ film (Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui), really don't do well commercially because, unfortunately, our country is homophobic. Then there was Anek, a docudrama that was a very niche in terms of the tone of the film. Doctor G was an A-rated film, and given the kind of certification it got, the film did decently well in theatres. For a while, that was my learning for making a film. However, nothing can stop Ayushmann from taking risks even now. He also added, “If I stop taking risks, I will be conventional. I have always been unconventional, and I make those choices. I will be taking them in the future as well, regardless of success or failure. I just keep pushing the boundaries, and that's the beauty of the budgeting of the films, too. My films are mostly low- to mid-budget, so no one loses money and I can afford to take risks.”