Ishaan Khatter
Ishaan Khatter is an Indian actor. The son of actors Rajesh Khattar and Neelima Azeem, he made his first screen appearance as a child in the 2005 film Vaah! Life Ho Toh Aisi!, which starred his half-brother Shahid Kapoor. As an adult, he starred in Majid Majidi's drama Beyond the Clouds, in which he played a drug dealer, and in the romantic drama Dhadak, which was a commercial success. The former earned him the Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut.
Life and career
Khatter is the son of actors Neelima Azeem and Rajesh Khattar. His half-brother, Shahid Kapoor, is Azeem's son from her first marriage to actor Pankaj Kapur. Khatter describes himself as someone who is proud of his middle class values. He explains that he grew up in a household rich in culture, cinema, and the performing arts, and that he worked towards developing himself as an artiste. Khatter was educated at Jamnabai Narsee School and Billabong High International School, Juhu in Mumbai. He also studied dance at Shiamak Davar's academy.After making his first screen appearance as a child in the 2005 film Vaah! Life Ho Toh Aisi!, starring Kapoor, Khatter worked as an assistant director to Abhishek Chaubey on his film Udta Punjab and Danish Renzu on the independent film Half Widow . Khatter's first acting role as an adult came with Beyond the Clouds, directed by Majid Majidi, in which he played Amir, a drug dealer. It premiered at the BFI London Film Festival and was released theatrically in 2018. Reviewing the film for The Hollywood Reporter, Deborah Young wrote that Khatter's "noteworthy screen charisma promises well for his future career". He won the Best Actor award at the 5th International Bosphorous Film Festival and the Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut.
Khatter next played the lead role in Shashank Khaitan's romantic drama Dhadak, a remake of the Marathi film Sairat, co-starring newcomer Janhvi Kapoor. It tells the story of two young lovers in rural Rajasthan who face political opposition to their relationship due to caste discrimination. Uday Bhatia of Mint criticised Dhadak for lacking the depth of the original film, but found "a soulfulness to that's at odds with Hindi cinema's current penchant for bratty, hyperactive onscreen male personas". Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express too disliked the film, but labelled Khatter a "natural" performer and took note of his "mobile, expressive face". With worldwide earnings of over, Dhadak emerged as a commercial success.
Khatter next starred in the British miniseries A Suitable Boy, Mira Nair's adaptation of Vikram Seth's novel of the same name, co-starring Tabu and Tanya Maniktala. He will next star alongside Ananya Panday in the action film Khaali Peeli, and alongside Katrina Kaif and Siddhant Chaturvedi in the comedy horror film Phone Bhoot.
Filmography
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
| 2005 | Vaah! Life Ho Toh Aisi! | Ishaan | |
| 2016 | Udta Punjab | Unnamed | Cameo; also assistant director |
| 2017 | Half Widow | Assistant director | |
| 2017 | Beyond the Clouds | Amir | |
| 2018 | Dhadak | Madhukar Bagla | |
| 2020 | A Suitable Boy | Maan Kapoor | Miniseries |
| 2020 | Khaali Peeli | Shiva | Filming |