HELLO! Exclusive: Bollywood's new poster boy Ishaan Khatter behind the fame, camera and social media thirst-traps

Yes, he Cannes! Ishaan Khatter is in the news. Let’s call it the ‘newz’ normal.

Homebound, a film he made with director Neeraj Ghaywan back in 2021, where he co-starred with Janhvi Kapoor, has been selected for the ‘Un Certain Regard’ section of the 78th Cannes Film Festival this year. What is this exotic segment? Launched back in 1978, this section showcases films that are innovative, audacious, support young talent and a unique vision. As the manifesto goes, “It’s a platform for discovering new trends, paths and countries in cinema.”

How does the actor feel even as he digests the implications? In his short innings as a mainstream actor, sometimes, Ishaan himself feels giddy with the maelstrom of milestones that have dropped his way. “Yes, it does seem surreal. I’ve gotten to work with such an unimaginable, eclectic group of people, so many of them being masters in their own right and globally-recognised names. It’s what is lovely about this job—you don’t know what could be next, and I hope it keeps surprising me. And that I keep surprising audiences!”

ISHAAN ON A ‘RAMPAGE’

Location: the HELLO! cover shoot. We sense, more than see, a superstar around…Suspense and an inkling of impending spectacle stalk the corridors of this boutique hotel. It’s a sensual, spicy vibe. How do we know, a millennial ‘light’ lurks? Is it the ‘clear the space, move out!’ shooing, or the music seeping out from his makeup and changing room?

In a world of robotic house beats, these songs are soul soothing and so incredibly ancient! We’re all nostalgic, absorbing the mellifluous sounds of the 66-year-old Sade, 44-year-old Kelly Rowland, 63-year-old MC Hammer and 46-year-old Usher. Ishaan is clearly an old soul—even if he uses millennial slang (“This is sick!”) when scrolling through his clicks. Somewhere in that 29-year-old bod resonates a pre-AI, pre-autotune psyche. This young man? He’s got the ‘thirst-trapping’ down pat, but he’s also all about addressing the thirsty millennial soul.

LUXE IN SPIRIT

No matter how much fiscal muscle Ishaan may now have, given his East-West acting career, he resonates warmly with ‘alternative’ luxuries—the kind shown to the world during the pandemic.“I really like the way you describe luxury,” he quips, affirming my hunches, when we exchange notes. “A rainy hill station, a meaningful conversation over filter coffee…I think time is a luxury, peace of mind is a luxury, good conversation and wonderful experiences are luxuries—with comfort, of course, as the basis of it. Great food is a luxury, nice people around… Those certainly are the luxuries I prefer to indulge in.”

STRIPPING FACADES

Mercifully, we’re going beyond the commodification that defines public figures. Remember that viral reel showing Ishaan as a showstopper at the recent Lakmé Fashion Week, unbuttoning his designer threads and throwing them into a screaming audience, flaunting a sculpted ‘couture’ physique? How did he feel pandering to the now widely pandered-to female gaze? Even the Insta-jamming ‘gay’ gaze? “Maybe the world is finally evolving to recognise and understand the female gaze in a larger context,” he muses. Hail to the era of the male thirst-trap? “How do I feel when my social media posts are described as ‘thirst-traps?’” he laughs. “I feel amused and flattered,” he winks. Clearly, the medium is the message and the ‘eye massage.’

MILLENNIAL PORTRAITS

Back to the photoshoot, as we hover around the hotel corridors, we imagine his dramatic entry, all-dimpled smile, Greek, youthful swag, legit space-taking. As he emerges in an earthy Péro ensemble, one can almost hear him say, “Fashion is a part of my life, but it’s not my entire life. It is, inadvertently, a part of my job as an actor and a public figure, as well. But yes, as a creative person, it gives me great joy to express myself through fashion.”

His openness to experiment makes him a time-honoured paparazzo darling. Who can forget the lustful comments from both the genders about his boned corset-esque vest, a Daniel W Fletcher moment, worn for the premier of The Perfect Couple? “That was, I think, the wildest fashion experiment I’ve tried so far,” he muses. “But it didn’t feel that wild… I think it was fun, pretty cool!”

A recent editorial labelled him an ‘IDGAF’ dresser at heart. Surely his after-hours would be about anything but playing dress up? “Sometimes I think there’s a mood for it, but other times, you don’t want to think so much about how you are throwing your clothes together…”

INDIAN EYES, INDIAN SOUL IN A GLOBAL VILLAGE

Camera-ready, his attitude is as earthy as the Péro suit. Select team members get a golden handshake and a warm smile that touches his twinkling eyes. In those nanoseconds, we realise Ishaan’s eyes have been apt windows to many an enacted soul—be it a gritty hustler in Beyond the Clouds, or an infatuated ‘toy boy’ presenting sher-o-shayari to a seasoned courtesan in A Suitable Boy. Or the suave, ‘exotic’ groom’s bestie, Shooter Dival, in the Netflix miniseries, The Perfect Couple.

Like Bridgerton, which played with Nigerian and Indian cast members and shattered a host of racial expectations in a period drama set in Britain, this was clearly a US production’s attempt to be ‘colour blind.’ Still, one wonders if Ishaan really felt like the lone wolf. We know he rejected speaking with a prescribed Brit accent, choosing instead to merge a Yankee twang with his own Indie-flavours. “Was I able to bring out the nuances I had imagined? I hope so. There was a lot of space for me to fill. The character was written to be mysterious. Hopefully, I was able to fill it with some personality and substance.”

PICK-POCKETING FROM MAESTROS

Every generation of actors takes leaves out of a previous generation’s style and charisma dialogue delivery; even observing the golden silences great stars played with in certain iconic movies.

“Did I memorise certain scenes and dialogues? Not really. But I’d do certain exercises. I’d perform random scenes from foreign films back in my room. Sometimes, my mom would do workshops. So I remember she once did this monologue of a 40-year-old man, and around age 16, I memorised that and performed it in class. Even though I was technically not asked to do it! So I do have such memories. I was always a ‘performative’ kid,” admits the son of the talented actress Neelima Azeem and Rajesh Khattar, a seasoned Indian actor, voice artist and screenwriter. (Of course, having a stepbrother like Shahid Kapoor must have felt like a huge support!)

AN INTERNATIONAL CINEMATIC VOCAB

As can be appreciated, Ishaan was also a regular at film festivals growing up; a fixture at the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival, the International Film Festival of India in Goa, and then Innat Jagran. In his late teens, he was an avid viewer of foreign cinema. “The works of Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Kieślowski, even Charlie Chaplin and the Soviet Union’s Andrei Tarkovsky… I keenly remember watching a film called Mommy by the Canadian Xavier Dolan; it was like watching a Salman Khan film in Gaiety Galaxy because the applause was so loud; it was such an enthusiastic audience!” he laughs.

This is all very interesting as a prelude to a career that’s spanned more than one country. The missing pieces of the puzzle fall in perfect alignment!

WOOING TOLLYWOOD?

The neo-Salmans of the South—be it Allu Arjun, Prabhas, or Mahesh—all have a characteristic ‘swag’ and are box office phenomena. Wouldn’t Ishaan want a slice of that gigantic blockbuster pie? “Happy to… And I’d hope so. I think it’d take a lot of work, and I’d want to get as fluent with the languages as I possibly can. In fact, I’d love to work in the Malayalam and Kannada industries, as well. Not just Tamil and Telugu!”

THESE ARE A FEW OF MY FAVOURITE THINGS…

Favourite way to de-stress?

Listening to music or watching a movie while having my favourite food.

My ideal date?

When you have a kind and sensitive partner with a similar sense of humour, you can do just about anything together!

My favourite holiday destination?

Kashmir or any place in nature where I can go for a trek or ride a bike.

My first big splurge?

A bluetooth speaker. Today, I don’t go anywhere without a portable speaker.

A song I currently play on loop?

‘Rocky’ by 10 Walls.

My hidden talent?

I make coffee like a barista! I also make great hot chocolate!

Love is…?

The best feeling in the world!

A book that’s stayed with you over the years?

Hunger by Knut Hamsun.