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Ishaan Khatter’s latest film, Neeraj Ghaywan’s Homebound, is competing for the Best International Feature category at the Academy Awards next year. It’s been selected as India’s official Oscars entry. Ishaan plays Shoaib, a marginalized Muslim boy who’s the best of friends with Chandan (Vishal Jethwa), a Dalit boy.
Ishaan is also a product of multicultural and interfaith upbringing, having been raised by his mother, actor Neelima Azeem, and born to a Hindu father, Rajesh Khattar. He is actor Shahid Kapoor’s half brother. “For me, that’s my idea of India, actually. When you’re raised in a household that is, for the lack of another word, pluralistic, secular or just open, liberal, you grow up, like I did, going to mandirs, masjids, churches, and all of them, trying to imbibe the beauty of all of these religions, cultures, and faiths,” Ishaan told Barkha Dutt in an interview for Mojo Story.
He believes that this pluralism or secularism is the “strength of India.” “We’re such a high functioning democracy in that sense. When you go to a place like New York or London, you realize it’s a cultural hub or a melting pot with so many different cultures. That’s probably the progressive way to be. That allows for so much growth in society, just to be able to have different perspectives and different people bringing in different strengths,” added Ishaan.
Ishaan hopes India can hold on to that pluralistic culture. “That’s something beautiful about our country. We have this within our grain naturally. It’s not been enforced. I really hope we can hold on to that because it’s beautiful and symbolic the way they’ve shown the friendship in the film. It’s a quiet act of resistance just by itself. Connection is a form of resistance when systems try to push you out or into the margins,” said Ishaan.
The actor, however, argued that Homebound goes beyond the friendship of a Hindu and a Muslim boy. “It’s a story of two marginalized boys who are able to empathise with and understand each other in a way that other people wouldn’t, who don’t have the same obstacles in life. So, I’m glad it’s adding to a conversation because that’s the only way to move forward,” added Ishaan.
He feels proud of Homebound because it doesn’t “take a political stand” or delivers a “lecture” to make someone feel smaller. “This film is not an argument, but a conversation. I think we can all use more conversations,” said Ishaan. He added that while he may be partly-Hindu and partly-Muslim because of his multicultural upbringing, he can vouch for the fact that he’s “fully human.”
Homebound, backed by Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions, also stars Janhvi Kapoor. Co-written by Ghaywan and Sumit Roy, it has Hollywood legend Martin Scorsese attached as an Executive Producer. It’s based on Bashrat Peer’s 2020 column in The New York Times: “A Friendship, A Pandemic, and a Death Beside the Highway.”
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