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Ishaan Khatter on his Hollywood debut in 2024: You've never seen a young Indian male actor shown in that light
Ishaan Khatter opens up on breaking new ground for South Asian actors in his Hollywood debut, returning to theatres in 2025 and what makes The Royals different
Actor Ishaan Khatter is entering 2025 all focused and energised, and his first aim is to return to the big screen. “After my first two projects, my next couple of years were all post-pandemic years. So, by default, everything that I had done, amongst them only one made it to the big screen. My first love is theatrical cinema and in 2025, I can't wait to get back to it. It’s been on my mind and I want to find the right film. I want to do a nice entertaining commercial film, and I am on the lookout for it,” he says.
The actor reveals that he has already shot for a theatrical release in 2024. “I shot a film this year that I'm very proud of. It's an extremely rare kind of film, a beautiful human story and that is a theatrical film,” he says, adding, “Professionally, it’s been a wonderful 2024 and I feel energised. I am raring to go, and it feels like the start of something. Hopefully, 2025 will be doubly as energetic.”
Ishaan Khatter will also be seen in the web series The Royals with actor Bhumi Pednekar and talking about the show, he reveals, “It's a delicious new world because it's definitely unexplored not only in the mainstream sense, but this kind of a contemporary take on royals has not been done.”
Having made his Hollywood debut in 2024 with The Perfect Couple, Ishaan takes pride in breaking new ground for South Asian actors in the West: “When I was doing it, I knew that there was a very new kind of character for a South Asian actor to get to play, especially someone who's based out of here and not there. You've never seen a young Indian male actor shown in that light in a big Hollywood project. So, it was definitely new ground, but I didn't know what to expect. It was lovely to get that reaction from people. There is definite pride that it broke new ground in a way, and hopefully, we will see much more of that going forward. It’s about time.”
Ask him about his experience of working in the West and he says it felt “comfortable”. “It felt natural and comfortable because we are all united by the creative process. We are all artistes and creative people, and filmmaking feels like it's a community of mad people that are all akin to each other in a way,” he says, adding, “What was wonderful was the audiences and people around me, especially from the subcontinent. I saw them feeling more pride than even I did, and it filled my heart.”
Revealing his new year resolution, Ishaan shares, “My resolution going into this New Year is to be fearless and just to express myself creatively. Let destiny call upon me and come down on it. Let's go for it, there’s no holding back.”
