Ishaan Khatter On Cloud Nine

Ishaan Khatter On Cloud Nine

- Suhani Singh

Actor Ishaan Khatter is a star kid, but he didn’t grow up in a glamorous world. His parents, actors Neelima Azeem and Rajesh Khatter, separated when Ishaan was young. As a single mother, Azeem gave him a modest, middle-class childhood. There were no family vacations abroad. His first international trip came when he accompanied his stepbrother, Shahid Kapoor (Azeem’s son from her first marriage to actor Pankaj Kapur), to the United Kingdom for the filming of Shaandaar in 2014. His idea of training was to head to Adishakti, a theatre troupe in Puducherry, and do a 10-day-long workshop in 2015.

“People assume that I have had an affluent lifestyle,” says Khatter. “I’m very proud of [the way I grew up]. I am what I am today because of my mother.”

This month he’s making his debut in the first Hindi language film by one of world cinema’s most renowned directors—Iranian auteur Majid Majidi—Beyond the Clouds. After the London premiere last October, the movie hit Indian theatres on April 20. Working with Majidi was an amazing experience for Khatter, a hardcore fan of world cinema who used to queue up for the Mumbai Film Festival with his friends. “I once watched six films in a single day. I once said, ‘I’d like to work with the likes of Majid Majidi’. This film chose me,” he says.