Actor and singer Ayushmann Khurrana just wrapped his music tour in the US across five cities, and audiences have showered love for his performances in all the cities—Chicago, New York, San Jose, New Jersey and Dallas. Ayushmann earlier declared that singing and music are his parallel passions as he enjoys the process of creating music.

Now, the actor has revealed how singing and doing live performances began for him. Ayushmann Khurrana says that Arijit Singh was the reason behind him doing his first-ever live singing performance, that too in the US. “I always used to think that I am good as an actor and can sing as part of my films, but doing an onstage performance in front of thousands of people was never in my mind. I always thought I am more of an actor than a singer.”

He goes on, “The credit for my first music performance goes to Arijit Singh! Dallas has a Diwali Mela that they host every year, and after the success of Vicky Donor and winning the Filmfare award for Best Singer for 2012, Arijit called me in 2013. He had a performance at the Mela but due to an emergency he couldn’t make it, but his band had reached Dallas and he requested me to go perform there. I explained that I never had thought of this and I always sang to myself, or for my friends at a party. He earnestly pleaded and since I have also always been his fan, I eventually gave in and agreed.”

Talking about this experience, he said, “I went for the concert and the stadium was full, with almost 50,000 people! I was taken aback, for from a drawing-room performance to this was a major shift. There were some 10 songs along with Arijit’s band and everyone loved my performance. The response was great! After this, I just enjoyed this so much that I knew I had to make my own band and do live singing, so the credit goes to Arijit Singh for this!”

Ayushmann’s next films include Thama from Maddock’s horror comedy universe and an untitled project with Dharma Productions and Sikhya Entertainment.

(Used with permission)