Actor Ayush Mehra, who recently won our hearts with his debut film as one of the leads in Kacchey Limbu, discusses how special the film was to him, recalls his childhood days playing gully cricket, and more.
Tejal Sinha
Bhai mera bat hai toh pehli batting meri’, or ‘Joh ball ghar mai maarega, wohi leke aayega’ — don’t these phrases take you back to the good-old days when all you used to do was come back from school, take your bats and balls, and go to the grounds to play cricket—actually, gully cricket? In fact, childhood without gully cricket, for many, is like no childhood.
But why are we talking about gully cricket today? Well, recently, with the Radhika Madan, Rajat Barmecha, and Ayush Mehra starrer Kacchey Limbu, it was like a hark back to our childhood days.
Kacchey Limbu has bought in a perfect opportunity for debutant Ayush Mehra. The film was special for him in every way, and why not? Making a debut in the industry, reliving the childhood memory of gully cricket, and his debut film premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), well a special debut indeed!
As an artist, you’d always want to make your debut impactful, and so you wait for the right script. And Kacchey Limbu was the one for Ayush. “When I read Kacchey Limbu, especially Kabir’s part, I was like, “This is exactly the part I was looking for to start my journey in films”, and when the film was shot, there was a lot of anxiety about where it was going to release, when it was going to release, and what was going to happen,” begins Ayush.
He continued, “We had a world premiere at TIFF, which is one of the best film festivals, and I have never been to a film festival before this, so I don’t have words to describe my experience; it was insane! Over there, I met Damien Chazelle; I saw Hugh Jackman, Ben Kingsley, and a lot of other veteran celebrities. So, you know, to be a part of such a prestigious festival with my first film was a great feeling. I am very grateful to start my career with Kacchey Limbu.”
Ayush had earlier worked with the director Shubham Yogi on one of his digital projects, and when he got a call from him and read his part while on a ride, he knew he was going to do it. When the film got released on OTT, Ayush felt like a burden was lifted off his shoulders in a positive and light way.
Going ahead in the conversation, Ayush takes us through his days of playing gully cricket. “I remember when I was a kid, the minute it turned 4 I would go down. I never used to call people by ringing their doorbells; instead, I used to go down and shout to everyone and tell them to come down. I was probably the first kid to go down and probably the last one to be home because 8 PM was my curfew time, so I used to play for four hours. So yeah, I have played all my life, like at gully cricket. We split cricket, badminton, and football, so I know the society’s culture well because I’ve lived in one like that,and yes, I have been a
‘Kaccha Limbu’ in so many phases of my life. I remember my brother used to give me 11 battings and used to bowl me out in like 15 minutes, and he would say, I’ll just take one batting, and he would bat for four hours. So I was a ‘Kaccha Limbu’ over there. You know, there are so many instances in real life when people don’t believe in you. It’s such an underdog story where people will say, “You’re not going to do it; I don’t see it in you”, and because you’re the underdog and you’re the ‘Kaccha Limbu’, you’re treated like that. But it’s always good to be an underdog and come out victorious. So I feel it’s very relatable to life and my journey as an actor as well.”
So, it seems like his character was pretty relatable. Well, he said, “It was and it was not. We’ve all been in a position where we’ve always had a crush on somebody in our society as our first love. So, you know, it was relatable in that way, for sure. The thing that I enjoyed the most about Kabir was that he wanted to step out of the shadows and do something on his own. He had a point to prove, and he chose love as that path to prove himself, which is always the right move. So I feel that is something I love about Kabir the most. He is one of those guys who will accept his mistakes if he is being a man about them. That’s something I also relate to a lot. I am not a perfect guy; I make mistakes, and I would say sorry and not have an ego about it. I relate the most to Kabir and also to the fact that he was very charming.”
Having been an AD before, the most important thing that he looks for in a project is his story, followed by his character. “If you get anything nice for me, be it any medium, I’m okay with that, but the story has to be compelling.”
These days, artistes either choose the path of bringing quality content or quantity, and we see many budding actors choose quality content over quantity. Well, Ayush believes that there’s no point in doing 10 projects that are not good, but rather do one that is great. He said, “I always believe that you should stick with quality. If you get quality and quantity together, then there is nothing like it. I’m not the kind of person who would just take on a project just for the sake of it, because quality matters for me.”
Well, that sums up that he’s not going to jump into a project so easily unless he knows he should do it. In fact, he says he is someone who waits for a good script, and that eventually turns out to be the right project for him. “I’m just waiting for a good script, a good director, and something that I have not done before or that excites me, and that will be the right project for me. So nothing has to be like, I have to do this. ‘Jo Acha Hai Vo Karna Hai’,” he added.
Be it an artist or the audience, someone in the creative field always looks forward to working with their favourite personalities in the industry. And for Ayush, as he explained, “Alia Bhatt is my favourite actor. I really, really like all of her work. She’s an incredible actor. There are so many I would love to work with; there’s Vicky Kaushal, and I would love to work with Ranveer Singh, with Shah Rukh Khan, my god! I don’t know how I will act with him, but okay. There are so many actors and directors that I would love to work with. I would love to work with Imtiaz Ali sir, and Zoya ma’am. The ones you’ve grown up watching are sure, but the new ones are also so good. So I would really love to work with so many of them; I can’t really name all of them, but genuinely, I am a fan of so many directors like Avinash sir, who directed Paatal Lok; Jasmeet Ma’am, who directed Darlings; and Abhay Pannu sir, who directed Rocket Boys. I feel they are extremely good, and I would really love to get an opportunity to work with them.”
Ending the conversation in the funniest way, when asked about what’s next on the plate, he said, “Chicken Biryani, which I will have for lunch. But right now, we’re looking at a lot of stuff. I’m not allowed to say it. If I say it, then it will not be on my plate(haha).”
