From Rashmika Mandanna to Ishaan Khatter, the new faces of India’s entertainment revolution

This is one world where reality and fantasy have always played hide-and-seek. But more and more, with OTT influences, reality is winning! Truth, as they say, is stranger and certainly gaining more traction than good ole boy-meets-girl stories. HELLO! presents new talent on the ever-shifting platforms of entertainment.

1. Ishaan Khatter 

Ishaan Khatter 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, preautotune psyche. This young man? He’s got the ‘thirst-trapping’ down pat, but he’s also all about addressing the thirsty millennial soul.

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…”

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!

2. Rashmika Mandanna

At 45.7 million, Rashmika Mandanna is the most-followed actor from South India on Instagram. She has half a dozen blockbusters to her name like the Pushpa franchise, in addition to Animal and Chhaava. 

TALKING POINT

At just 29, her journey is an inspiration. Beyond being a trained classical Indian dancer, she has no family background or history in any other performing art. Blessed with a grounded, relatable personality and a massive social media fan base, Rashmika’s other accolades include four SIIMA Awards (South Indian International Movie Awards) and a Filmfare Award, South.

QUOTABLE QUOTE

“In Pushpa: The Rule, there’s one scene where I have a four-page monologue. My director, Sukumar, told me, ‘Shivali has this arc. This scene will require a high quality of performance.’ It’s a scene where I shift from laughter to tears, anger to exhaustion, sadness to laughter. In my speech, the underlying message is, ‘If you mess with me, I will give it back to you tenfold.’ When people whistled and hooted during that scene, it was the ultimate validation of my whole journey as an actor.”

FUTURE TENSE

Rashmika’s 2025 release with Salman Khan, Sikandar, has seen moderate success in India, but surpassed the Rs 250 crore mark globally. Up next, she has Thama, a horrorcomedy with Ayushmann Khurrana, and possibly Kubera, an Indian social thriller with Dhanush and Nagarjuna. Of course, her most anticipated project will be Pushpa: The Rampage! Will the franchise strike gold once again? Or will her pay cheque go up by another Rs 8 crore? Time will tell.

3. Ananya Panday

The Barbie of generations Z and Y who grew up worshipping Kareena Kapoor’s ‘Poo’ has emerged as a youth icon, both as an actor and endorser of popular brands like Swarovski, Skechers, Lakmé—and now Chanel! Ananya Panday’s Amazon Prime show, Call Me Bae, won her many brownie points as a desi ‘Emily’ (of Emily in Paris). Her other OTT show, CTRL, and her performance in Kho Gaye Hum Kahan were also well-received.

QUOTABLE QUOTE

“Everyone who talks about Bae, they are always smiling—either coming up to me and doing the behen-code [gesture], or quoting Bae’s affirmations! When something becomes a pop culture reference… That’s something I’ve always aimed to do [as an actor]!”

Ananya has also been a spokesperson against social media trolling and an advocate for mental health awareness, anti-body shaming and period shaming, subjects that resonate with fans across generations.

4. Diljit Dosanjh

Diljit Dosanjh made history when he became the first Indian singer to perform at Coachella. He’s now a global star, featured on charts like the Billboard Social 50. With his worldwide popularity, he enjoys a following of 25.6 million on Instagram.

TALKING POINT

The singer’s The Dil-Luminati Tour set new benchmarks for an Indian performing artist, for its brilliant sets, lighting and the sheer buoyancy of blending Punjabi folk, pop and hip hop. This game-changing tour reached 7,40,000 Diljit fans, running from April to December 2024, kicking off in Delhi, with stops across the country. The show also travelled to North America, Europe and Abu Dhabi. The total revenue earned touched Rs 600 crore. But more importantly, the tour contributed an astounding US$112 million to local economies and created over 5,300 jobs. The tax revenues alone touched US$13 million.

QUOTABLE QUOTE

“For me, Michael Jackson was a star. Amitabh Bachchan and Salman Khan are stars. They are the ones who own and carry stardom.”

FUTURE TENSE

Diljit’s upcoming projects include the film Punjab ’95, a biopic on human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra. He’s also expected to be in Border 2 and No Entry 2.

This piece originally appeared in the April-May’25 print edition of HELLO! India

Photographs by Sasha Jairam for Ishaan Khatter, Aalok Soni/Getty Images for Rashmika Mandanna, Getty Images for Diljit Dosanjh, Ananya Panday/Instagram and Gaurav Gupta/Instagram for Ananya Panday