Ayushmann Khurrana blames homophobia for ‘Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui’s disappointing box office numbers

Ayushmann Khurrana recently addressed the poor box office performance of his last three films – ‘Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui’, ‘Anek’ and ‘Doctor G’. Reacting to the underwhelming response ‘Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui’, which highlights a social message on the LGBTQ community, received, the actor said that it’s unfortunate that India is ‘homophobic’.

The Abhishek Kapoor directorial starred Vaani Kapoor as a transwoman. The film reportedly wrapped up with a business of ₹33.64 crore gross. According to Bollywood Hungama, ‘Anek’ and ‘Doctor G’ earned ₹8.15 crore and ₹ 26.45 crore gross at the domestic ticket window, respectively

During the promotion of his upcoming film ‘An Action Hero’, Ayushmann was asked how he has been affected after his consecutive films underperformed. Speaking with OTT play, he explained how his films fared overall, ‘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.’

‘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,’ he added.
Ayushmann Khurrana’s ‘An Action Hero’, directed by Anirudh Iyer, is slated to release on December 2, 2022.

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