Ishaan Khatter on crafting his path to Hollywood: ‘You’re only as good as your last work’
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The Perfect Couple star talks to Shahana Yasmin about his diverse career choices, from Bollywood to Hollywood, and what pushes him to grow as an actor. When one is born into a family with celebrated ties to Bollywood, the world can safely assume their path to stardom would be paved with marquee roles and big-budget blockbusters. Ishaan Khatter’s rise, in that context, stands out as a departure.
![[Ishaan Khatter in Beyond the Clouds]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/31/13/beyond_the_clouds_still.jpg)
Born into a family of cinematic luminaries — his mother Neelima Azeem is an acclaimed actress and half-brother Shahid Kapoor one of Bollywood’s leading men — Khatter had every reason to take the easier route. “Mine wasn’t a family that would make a call and get you a job,” he tells The Independent. “It was always about earning your stripes.”.
![[Ishaan Khatter and Tabu in A Suitable Boy]](https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2020/07/24/14/a-suitable-boy-2.jpg)
Khatter debuted in 2017, not with a massive Bollywood launch but with Iranian director Majid Majidi’s Beyond the Clouds, a low-budget, realistic drama about two impoverished siblings trying to survive within the complex web of the Mumbai underworld.
![[Dakota Fanning as Abby Winbury and Ishaan Khattar as Shooter Dival in The Perfect Couple]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/31/13/TPC_101_Unit_07990RC.jpg)
“It kind of set the foundation for me as an actor,” Khatter recalls. “Majidi sir was like a father figure to me. A taskmaster, but also a master of his craft. He pressed the right buttons with me, and it reinforced the kind of actor I wanted to be — always pushing myself, always growing.
![[Cast of The Perfect Couple]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/31/13/WhatsApp-Image-2024-09-06-at-19.04.17_62931ef2.jpg)
“At the time, working with him felt a little surreal, like some sort of miracle, but ultimately, it was a really beautiful, reassuring thing. Beyond the Clouds gave me a lot of energy going forward, like I was allowed to be ambitious for the kind of career I wanted, the kind of roles I wanted to play. Before it, it all felt a bit out of reach.”.
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