REMEMBER THE NAME

PASSION BROUGHT HIM TO CINEMA. THAT, ALONG WITH DISCIPLINE, HAS HIM RISING TO THE TOP. SHILPA DUBEY SPEAKS TO ISHAAN KHATTER ABOUT DREAMS, DRIVE, AND HAVING THE GUTS TO TAKE A DETOUR NOW AND THEN

- SHILPA DUBEY

There's music playing somewhere in the background. A Rüfüs Du Sol track hums from a small, but powerful black speaker lying on the studio floor. It's Ishaan Khatter's speaker. He carries it everywhere, like a handheld mood stabiliser. Maybe it's a habit. Maybe it's to drown out the noise around him. Hard to say. But the music makes sense because Ishaan moves through life with his own rhythm.

You wouldn't guess that he's just returned from walking red carpets at Cannes, at Toronto where his critically-acclaimed Homebound premiered, or at Milan Fashion Week for the BOSS SS '26 show (he's one of the stars in the brand's FW '25 campaign globally). He had half a day free and he gave that to Femina to shoot. Still, the air around him feels casual for all that glamour. Just a beautiful young man, with real charisma, who still plays football on weekends in Bandra, Mumbai, and carries his own speaker onto the set. Someone you can't help but really want to know.

“I'm a regular dude,” Ishaan says, describing himself without overthinking. “I work. I take care of my family. I spend time with my loved ones. I'm a very physical person – dancing, moving, reading, engaging with art. Cinema is part of me, but it doesn't define me.” There's no pretence in that last sentence. Just rhythm – the same rhythm he seems to live by.