“The little boy Ayushmann Khurrana thinks he’s an A-lister,” says Kunal Kohli

Poor Ayushmann Khurrana. He didn’t know what hit him when yesterday Kunal Kohl lashed out at the Vicky Donor actor for opting out of his production that Kunal’s assistant Vicky Bahri was to direct. Lashing out at Ayushmann for what he sees as clear case of commitment-phobia Kunal Kohli says, “This is a clear example of a newcomer overreaching himself after one success. Ayushmann feels after Vicky Donor he is in a position to command an A-lister heroine. The little boy evidently thinks he is an A-lister, whatever that means.” Kunal is a little puzzled by the demand for an A-list heroine. “I don’t know what an A-lister is, frankly. I’ve worked with the top-most actors of the country. Whether it is Aamir Khan, Kajol, Kareena Kapoor, Hrithik Roshan, Saif Ali Khan, Rani Mukherjee,Priyanka Chopra, Shahid Kapoor or Rishi Kapoor …I’ve never heard them refer to themselves as A-listers. Nor would they dream of refusing to work with anyone. When Ayushmann told me he wants an A-list heroine opposite him I was stumped. Some of the names I had suggested were big heroines with successes behind them. But I think the little boy was looking for a bigger co-star, someone like Katrina or Priyanka. Please tell me why these heroines would want to work with him?” Kunal feels this is a clear case of a debutant over-estimating himself after one success. “Does Ayushmann really think Vicky Donor worked because of him? A lot of my friends that I know thought Anu Kapoor was the real hero of the film. I don’t see Anu asking for A-list heroines.” Kunal’s main grouse against Ayushmann is what the director considers a lack of tact and restrain. “Lots of actors say no to projects. They don’t go around tomtomming about the films they don’t do. If Akshay Kumar or Aamir Khan spoke about the projects they rejected they’d be doing nothing else the whole day. I guess that’s what makes them A-listers.” Kunal thinks Ayushmann is ill-advised. “The people who look after his work first planted stories about Ileana d’Cruz or Diane Penty being cast opposite Ayushmann. There was no truth to that. And now when he’s out of the project they’re writing about that too. Not done!” When contacted Ayushmann seemed a little dazed by the turn of events. “I am nobody to comment on who's an A lister and who's not. We live in times where either a superstar or a super script works. Since I am not the former I would rather go with the latter. It's unfair how things have been blown out of proportion. Mr Kunal Kohli is my senior and no matter what I may or may not become tomorrow the equation will always remain the same. He is and will remain my senior and I will continue to respect him. However at the same time, I don't think it's wrong to have aspirations, it would have been a privilege to work with him, but somehow things didn't work out mainly due to my pre occupation during the allotted dates for Rohan sippy's Nautanki Sala's promotions. I will be happy to work with Kunal in the future.”