Ishaan Khatter Isn’t Afraid to Swim With the Sharks

Ishaan Khatter’s film career continues to take him to new places. Like Cape Cod.

The Indian actor was cast in Netflix limited series “The Perfect Couple” in early 2023, and soon after found himself arriving at the East Coast destination to begin production on his first English-language project. Asked about a highlight from his time in Cape Cod, Khatter, over Zoom, glances off-camera toward his team. 

“My manager, Alex, can testify I went swimming in the Cape more often than desired. It was freezing when we first got there,” he says. “Cape Cod, in case you didn’t know, is the mecca for sharks,” Khatter adds. “So it was potentially unwise to be swimming, in the off season especially. But hey, you know, we take our chances. And I believe Nicole did the same. She’s a daredevil and a legend.”

The Nicole in question is Nicole Kidman, one of Khatter’s many costars in the limited series, which also includes Eve Hewson, Liev Schreiber, Dakota Fanning, Jack Reynor and Meghann Fahy. Off set, the cast grew close exploring what the area had to offer — whale watching, axe-throwing — during several months of production. “We got hard into axe-throwing during that phase,” Khatter adds. “Dakota, I think, was the champion.”

It’s early September, and the 28-year-old actor has arrived in Los Angeles shortly after the show’s London premiere. Khatter is in the middle of a press day for the series, which will be followed by another premiere and a short trip to New York, before he returns to India to begin work on his next feature film.

“The Perfect Couple” is currently Netflix’s number-one most watched show globally, with 20.3 million views during its first week. “We all saw the potential for a very interesting and unique tone in this series, but it’s really come out in a way that is extremely exciting and full of cross layered ideas,” says Khatter, praising director Susanne Bier. “The execution is top notch.”

The show is a whodunit mystery, set during a wedding weekend at the affluent groom’s family summer home in Nantucket. The festivities are derailed when the maid of honor is found dead the morning of the wedding, and everyone becomes a suspect. Khatter stars as a close family friend, and the groom’s best man.

Each episode features an upbeat all-cast opening dance sequence, which takes place during the wedding rehearsal dinner but outside of the story’s plot. The dance, choreographed by Charm La’Donna, of Dua Lipa fame, closed out production for the entire series. “There was a TikTok dance written into the script, but nobody imagined it would be filmed quite in that way,” says Khatter, adding that the intent was to subvert the tone of the show. 

“It was a huge celebration of the many months that we’d spent filming this together. It’s all in good fun — and in my case, I’ll add, I am a dancer, and I come from the Indian film industry where doing musicals is almost like bread and butter. So for me it was another day at work,” he adds. “It is a bit of a fever dream to see Nicole Kidman, Isabelle Adjani, and this cast dancing and doing a TikTok song. Where else are you going to experience that?”

Khatter has been surrounded by the Indian entertainment industry from a young age; both of his parents are actors, as well as his older brother, Shahid Kapoor. Khatter decided to follow in his family’s footsteps as a teenager, adding that acting was something that “I was always naturally most drawn toward,” he says. “I was fortunate not to have been pushed in that direction or away from it. I was raised to be an independent individual and make my own choices — but because I had the cultivation in the arts and the culture from an early age, I think it’s what I found I was most passionate about. And when I grew older, I just became more serious about learning the craft and pursuing it.”

When he was a teenager, he began assisting on film sets and completed a one-year intensive training course as a dancer. He made his feature film leading debut in Majid Majidi’s 2017 Hindi film “Beyond the Clouds,” when he was 21.

“I had a rare opportunity with my first film to portray a part that was fairly layered for a young actor,” Khatter says. “I think that’s what gave me the hunger to push and chase roles that allow me to express myself in different ways,” he adds. “I couldn’t have asked for a better beginning. I think it really set the foundation for me as an actor. And I haven’t looked back since.”

Looking ahead, Khatter is continuing his relationship with Netflix with his next series, “The Royals.” Ahead of its Netflix India premiere early next year, the show released a teaser trailer in August that gives audiences an early look at Khatter in the role of a modern Prince Charming. “It’s a very interesting take on Indian royals. It’s fictitious; it’s contemporary, and a whole lot of fun [with] a lot of exciting set pieces for the audiences,” Khatter says. “And I’m excited for them to see me in a new role.”

“One of the reasons that we work so hard pushing our work out there is so that people are able to envision you in different silhouettes and different characters,” Khatter continues. “I have some projects that are, again, very different from what I’ve had the chance of doing before. Of course I’m looking forward to my journey out here in the west as well. I’ll always strive to strike that balance where I’m able to work across borders and do the work that comes to me naturally as well. We’ll see what life has to offer.”