How Shahid Kapoor Helped Ishaan Khatter Bag His Debut Role As Child Artist

Here’s how Shahid Kapoor helped brother Ishaan Khatter bag his debut role as child artist

Ishaan Khatter, who burst onto the scene, with Iranian filmmaker Majid Majidi’s Hindi offering Beyond The Clouds (2018), is gearing himself up for the release of his next flick, Dhadak. The trailer of the musical love story was released a couple of weeks ago, which received favourable response from the audience, with Ishaan garnering raves for mastering the Marwari accent and look.

People who started recognizing the young actor only after the release of Beyond The Clouds may not have any idea that Ishaan had an itch for acting since he was a kid. He even played a small part in brother Shahid Kapoor’s 2005 movie, Vaah! Life Ho Toh Aisi. Interestingly, it was none other than Shahid who helped his adorable brother bag the part in the fantasy drama movie.

During his recent interview with us, when Ishaan Khatter was asked about the whole episode which led him to feature in brother’s movie, he fondly remembered the incident and, with a broad smile on his face, said: “I, actually, was never meant to be a part of the film (Vaah! Life Ho Toh Aisi). I was always fascinated by films and film sets, though. Also, performing was always my biggest passion since before I can remember. So, I would visit film sets with my brother (Shahid Kapoor) and this one day, I arrived on the sets of Vaah! Life Ho Toh Aisi! and realized that there were eight children in the frame. I thought it was completely blasphemous that I was not one of them. “How can I not be doing this?” I thought.”

After that, young Ishaan did not waste a single second and dashed to brother Shahid Kapoor who then talked to director Mahesh Manjrekar and requested him to take the kid in a frame. They put the child in the frame just to entertain him. However, little did they know that he would go on to eat into other child actors’ roles. “They (children) all were having so much fun. I was like, I need to do this. My brother went and spoke to the director and perhaps they decided amongst themselves that just to entertain this kid, they would put me in the frame for a little while and then, maybe, take me out and complete the shot. But when they put me in the frame, he (Mahesh Manjrekar) realized that I was not conscious of the camera and was pretty natural. So, I think he felt that I could be part of the film and decided to keep me in the movie, which eventually led him to start cutting other children’s scenes, and later asked me to play them.”