My Aspiration with Every Character is to Give Myself to it Completely, Says Ishaan Khatter

Ishaan Khatter is constantly trying to evolve as an actor and says that his aspiration with every character is to be able to give himself completely to it.

Ishaan made his acting debut with Iranian film director Majidi Majid’s film Beyond The Clouds. His Bollywood debut was Dhadak, the Hindi remake of the popular Marathi film Sairat. Recently, he shared screen space with Tabu in Mira Nair’s BBC miniseries A Suitable Boy, based on Vikram Seth’s acclaimed novel of the same name.

“I don’t know how I see myself evolve, I just try to evolve. My aspiration with every character is to be able to give myself over to it completely, so that I can immerse myself in that world, to be able to do justice to that character,” Ishaan told IANS.

He has three films in his bag right now – the romantic action flick Khaali Peeli, the horror comedy Phone Bhoot and the war drama titled Pippa.

The actor says so far everything that he has done has been different from each other and that he has constantly had to “rediscover” his process, and that he constantly has had to be in a place outside his “comfort zone”.

“Every experience has been different. Every character, every movie has been different. So, yes I really enjoy that way of working. I really enjoy that variety and diversity in my work. That’s something I would like to continue with. For me there was a long break after doing my first two films, which happened soon after each other, I had shot them both within a year,” he said.

“After that, I was not on a film set for a year and a half. It took a long time for me to find the films that excited me and gave me an opportunity to do something different from what I have already done,” Ishaan added.

“Eventually when it happened, it happened closely cluttered together. I had to manage my way through the shoot of both of these (projects). I actually started a schedule for ‘Khaali Peeli’ and in two days I had to do a complete changeover to become Mann Kapoor for A Suitable Boy,” he recalled.

Ishaan said he was able to finish A Suitable Boy in one schedule and come back to Khaali Peeli.

“It was six months of back-to-back shooting for me and that in itself was a challenge, because the characters were so different from each other. I had to make sure to be well prepared for both of them, before I started with Khaali Peeli.”

Ishaan says it has been a great experience, “like a new phase for me as an actor”, which is why he is “very excited for people to see my work”.