With his OTT debut with The Royals and a noteworthy participation at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival with his Homebound co-stars Janhvi Kapoor and Vishal Jethwa, Ishaan Khatter has had a breakout year. Homebound, which was directed by Neeraj Ghaywan, received a standing ovation at its recent Cannes screening. Even though Ishaan’s performances in both productions have gotten positive reviews, there were some difficulties with the transfer. He openly discussed in a recent interview how, as soon as he finished The Royals, he threw himself into getting ready for Homebound.
Ishaan discussed the hardest part of playing his role in Homebound in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter India. Since we obviously come from quite different worlds, even if we live in the same country, he added, “I think it was covering the ground between myself and the character.” I jumped right into this after finishing The Royals. It was thus quite divisive. Getting as close to the character as possible, internalizing it, owning it, and putting in the effort to avoid character issues on set was, to be honest, the hardest part of the preparation process.
Ishaan clarified that a major physical change was necessary for his part in Homebound. His weight loss and genuine portrayal of the role were the director’s goals. Ishaan was recuperating from an injury at the same time, which made the emotionally and physically taxing shoot even more difficult. It was exhausting to film in Madhya Pradesh for over two months, but Ishaan said that the Cannes premiere made the effort worthwhile.
At Cannes, Homebound was shown in the Un Certain Regard category. The movie, which was produced by Karan Johar, Adar Poonawalla, Apoorva Mehta, and Somen Mishra, is set in a tiny North Indian hamlet and centers on two best friends who want to become police officers: Shoaib (Ishaan Khatter), who is Muslim, and Chandan (Vishal Jethwa), who is Dalit. They encounter a number of social, financial, and personal difficulties that test their resolve as they wait for their exam results.
