Ishaan Khatter has been riding high on the success of his recent web series The Royals. He has been receiving quite some praise for his portrayal of a handsome young prince. Ever since his debut in 2018’s Dhadak alongside Janhvi Kapoor, he has proved his versatility through his limited yet varied roles. In fact, his debut itself was a challenging one, given that he played a character who was a middle-class Marwari college boy.
Ishaan sat down with mid-day for a brief chat, where he discussed how he nailed the intricacies of the character. Here’s an excerpt from the interview.
Ishaan recalls being stopped from entering the Dhadak set
Recalling an incident from his first day on the sets of Dhadak, Ishaan shares, “I remember even on the first day I walked onto set in the character of this boy Madhukar Bagla. I was wearing this Rajasthani shirt with all this embroidery and slicked-back hair like a good boy and all that. And I`ve come practicing my Marwari and all. I`ve come on set and the security guard was like, ‘Look, no locals allowed’.”
He further shares how he felt, saying, “I was very happy. But it was totally different, the language was different, the grammar was different. But also it was adapted from such a beautiful and such a loved film. And a film that, dare I say, I think it deeply affected me personally as well. So I was very happy to be part of something that was meaningful. And also mainstream.”
Janhvi and Ishaan’s preparation for Dhadak
During the release of the film, it was reported how the lead pair prepared for their respective roles. Since the film is set up in Rajasthan, Ishaan Khatter and Janhvi Kapoor learned Marwari for their characters. To understand the dialect, they would often go and converse with the locals in Udaipur in the Marwari language. It is believed that the duo also went on bike rides around Udaipur to soak in the sights and sounds of the city.
Additionally, their outfits and accessories were personally picked by them and the director from Rajasthan. They wanted to get the local flavour as much as possible. In fact, a red shirt worn by Ishaan in the song Pehli Baar was made out of four lehengas to make it look authentic.
