Write It On The Screen

Actor Ayushmann Khurana recalls being pleasantly surprised by the script of Vicky Donor. Not only was it on a taboo subject—sperm donation—but was underlined with quirky wit rather than the crass gags the theme could have provoked. What struck Ayushmann were the wonderful women propping up his character: Dolly, his widowed mother, single-handedly running the household; his grandmother Beeji, who shares an evening drink with his mom and suggests that she get remarried; and, of course, Vicky’s banker love Ashima, who’s much better qualified than him and financially sound. All of them women of strength and depth, and with a sense of humour and zest for life. Not surprisingly, the scriptwriter was a woman, one who goes at the keyboard with a sense of fun: Juhi Chaturvedi.

“A film that would have made India cringe had the country laughing out loud instead,” says Ayushmann, who credits Juhi entirely for turning a cringe-inducer into a clutter-buster.  Sperms—greedy sperm, angry sperm, miserly sperm—became the stuff...