Ishaan Khatter

Ishaan Khatter (born 1 November 1995) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi films and in international television. His first leading role, in Majid Majidi's Beyond the Clouds (2017), won him the Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut. Since then he has made the romantic drama Dhadak, appeared in British and American series, and starred in Homebound (2025), which premiered at Cannes. In 2025 he was on Forbes Asia's 30 Under 30 list.

Early life and background

Khatter is the son of actors Rajesh Khattar and Neelima Azeem. Through his mother he is related to the family of the writer and director Khwaja Ahmad Abbas, and the actor Shahid Kapoor is his half-brother. He went to Jamnabai Narsee School and Billabong High International School in Juhu, and he studied dance at Shiamak Davar's academy. He first appeared on screen as a child in Vaah! Life Ho Toh Aisi! (2005), which starred Kapoor. He then worked behind the camera as an assistant director, to Abhishek Chaubey on Udta Punjab (2016) and to Danish Renzu on Half Widow (2017).

Career

Debut and Dhadak (2017–2018)

Khatter's first adult role was Amir, a drug dealer, in Majid Majidi's Beyond the Clouds. The film premiered at the BFI London Film Festival and opened in cinemas in 2018. His performance won him the Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut and Best Actor at the International Bosphorus Film Festival. Later in 2018 he played the lead in Shashank Khaitan's Dhadak, a remake of the Marathi film Sairat, opposite debutante Janhvi Kapoor. The film grossed more than ₹1.1 billion worldwide and was his first commercial success.

Series and genre work (2020–2023)

In 2020 he was cast opposite Tabu in Mira Nair's A Suitable Boy, a six-part adaptation of Vikram Seth's novel for BBC One. He has said he took the part partly because the story features a romance between an older woman and a younger man. The same year he co-starred with Ananya Panday in the action film Khaali Peeli, which was released digitally because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He moved to horror comedy with Phone Bhoot (2022), alongside Katrina Kaif and Siddhant Chaturvedi.

In 2023 he starred in Fursat, a short film for Apple directed by Vishal Bhardwaj and shot on an iPhone. He also played the real-life army commander Balram Singh Mehta in the war drama Pippa, set during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. To prepare, he spent time with Mehta and attended a military boot camp. The film was released on Amazon Prime Video.

International series and Homebound (2024–present)

Khatter joined the ensemble of the American Netflix limited series The Perfect Couple (2024), adapted from Elin Hilderbrand's mystery novel. In the Netflix romantic drama series The Royals (2025) he played a reluctant heir opposite Bhumi Pednekar.

His most praised work so far is Neeraj Ghaywan's Homebound (2025), in which he plays a Muslim man facing religious discrimination, alongside Vishal Jethwa. The film premiered in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival and received a nine-minute standing ovation. It was then selected for the Gala Presentations section of the Toronto International Film Festival.

Selected filmography

• 2005 — Vaah! Life Ho Toh Aisi! — Child role
• 2017 — Beyond the Clouds — Amir
• 2018 — Dhadak — Lead
• 2020 — A Suitable Boy (TV) — Lead, opposite Tabu
• 2020 — Khaali Peeli — Lead
• 2022 — Phone Bhoot — Lead
• 2023 — Pippa — Balram Singh Mehta
• 2024 — The Perfect Couple (TV) — Ensemble role
• 2025 — The Royals (TV) — Reluctant heir
• 2025 — Homebound — Lead

Awards and honours

• Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut — Beyond the Clouds
• Best Actor, International Bosphorus Film Festival — Beyond the Clouds
• Forbes Asia 30 Under 30 (2025)

Recent and upcoming work

Homebound took Khatter to Cannes and Toronto in 2025. His two latest series, The Perfect Couple and The Royals, are on Netflix, so his work now reaches both Indian and international audiences.