Ahead of Gulabo-Sitabo, Ayushmann Khurrana admits he sought inspiration for Article 15 from Amitabh Bachchan’s cop act in Zanjeer

By Gurpreet Kaur

on June 03, 2019

Ayushmann Khurrana, who has embraced an array of on-screen characters -- from a sperm donor to a blind man -- will next be seen portraying the role of a police officer in filmmaker Anubhav Sinha's Article 15. The teaser and trailer of the film, featuring the actor as a no-nonsense cop, have been praised for the audience and the critics alike. Now in a conversation with a leading daily, Ayushmann admitted that he has always desired to don the khaki uniform in a film. What's more? He added that he sought his inspiration from the characters of Amitabh Bachchan’s Vijay Khanna (Zanjeer, 1973), Aamir Khan’s Ajay Singh Rathod (Sarfarosh, 1999) and Manoj Bajpayee’s Samar Pratap Singh (Shool, 1999).

“My idols for playing a cop on screen are Amitabh Bachchan sir from Zanjeer, Manoj Bajpai sir from Shool and Aamir Khan sir from Sarfarosh. I wanted to go the realistic way and show the vulnerable side of cops. More than that I was keen to meet real cops and then portray my character in a certain way. Thankfully, I was in touch with lot of real-life officers... one of which is Manoj Malviya — a senior IPS officer from Delhi. It is part of the bucket list for every actor to play a cop on screen and I was waiting for the right script," Ayushmann said.

Let's be Indians: Firstly and Lastly

Presenting #Article15Trailer https://t.co/HQcLsngarZ #Article15 in cinemas on June 28th @anubhavsinha #ManojPahwa #IshaTalwar @sayanigupta @Mdzeeshanayyub #KumudMishra @ZeeStudios_ @ZeeMusicCompany pic.twitter.com/BIH9FSD4fF

— Ayushmann Khurrana (@ayushmannk) May 30, 2019

Interestingly, the actor is all set to collaborate with Big B on the big screen for the first time for filmmaker Shoojit Sircar's upcoming film Gulabo Sitabo. The family comedy, set in Lucknow, will release in November 2019. Talking about it, Ayushmann told a daily, It’s great to be collaborating with them (Bachchan and Sircar) on a family comedy which is Vicky Donor meets Piku."

Coming back to Article 15, the film will see Ayushmann essay the principal protagonist and the supporting cast comprises Isha Talwar, Manoj Pahwa, Sayani Gupta, Kumud Mishra, M Nasser, Ashish Verma, Sushil Pandey, Subrajyoti Bharat, Ronjini Chakraborty and Zeeshan Ayub. It premieres at the 10th London Indian Film Festival later this month and releases on June 20.

(Source: DNA/Mumbai Mirror)