I Didn't Give A Nod To Beyond The Clouds, The Film Chose Me.

Just 22 and making waves already... ISHAAN KHATTER seems to have arrived and how! Even though he's fully filmi, he appears to be a li'l hatke from the rest. Post debuting with Beyond the Clouds and working with a fab director like Majid Majidi, he seems to be the new fave of B-town. In a free-wheeling chat with Sharbani Mukherjee, the young actor opens up about his passion, debut, films and getting tips from brother Shahid kapoor. Read on...

- Sharbani Mukherjee

You were a child actor in Vaah! Life Ho Toh Aisi and now you’re a full-fledged actor doing your second film. How does it feel?

Well the first experience was not a planned one at all. I would visit the sets of the film often with my brother. He was doing this film Vaah! Life Ho Toh Aisi and there were eight kids performing. At that time this whole thing was very exciting for me. Once I’d been on the set and I was like ‘Hey, I want to act as well. I want to do this!’ Shahid had a word with the director and I guess he liked me and found me natural as I was not conscious. So he gave me more scenes and that’s how it happened. I wasn’t even meant to be a part of the film and I didn’t even get any remuneration for it! But as a child I considered that to be my first experience although it was purely accidental.

How did Beyond the Clouds happen?

I grew up in love with movies and I started watching a lot of films very seriously to understand the process. I started watching world cinema, Hindi and Western classics. And then I kind of started taking my first steps towards becoming a film actor. Beyond The Clouds is essentially my debut film. I was in talks about Dhadak at that time. But at the same time, I got a call from Majidi sir, gave an audition for him and got selected. So that became my first film.

Do you remember at any point in time that you wanted to become an actor?

I never had that moment actually. I was pretty passionate about acting since the beginning. So I never had a turning point or epiphany which made me decide say that ‘Oh! I am going to be an actor’. It was just a kind of an understanding as far as I can remember. And when I grew up, I just started working towards it seriously, that’s it.