Exclusive! ‘Dhadak is an adaptation, not a remake’: Ishaan Khatter

Ishaan Khatter’s debut film might not have been a money spinner, but it got him rave reviews. The newcomer impressed the critics with his performance in Beyond The Clouds. And now, his second film — a more commercial Dhadak — is slated to release on July 20.

Talk to him about the movie being based on the superhit Marathi film Sairat, and he quickly cuts in, “Dhadak is an adaptation, rather than a remake,” he says. The young actor adds that he’s “absolutely aware” that adaptations haven’t worked at the box office recently. He adds, “But it depends on your intention behind directing a film. Director Shashank Khaitan understood that it’s such an important film for our country. Also, it is so easily adaptable into the different cultural milieu that it was important to make this film reach out to more audiences and he wanted to do it his way.”

The newcomer also shares that he watched Sairat, before shooting for Dhadak. He says, “I loved Sairat and was affected by it. I understand the responsibility of all the hopes that come with it. But I prefer not to think about these things when I’m working in a creative environment because it may influence my performance. Since we are adapting it, there’s scope to be different. It’s also been under the public eye, so it had a different journey from Sairat.”

Few know that producer Karan Johar had actually approached Ishaan for another project. He reveals, “Karan sir wanted to meet me because he had seen some of my pictures and footage and wanted to cast me in a film. He got my number from my brother (Shahid Kapoor), with whom he was co-judging a show and also working on Shaandaar. He met me and we were in talks for another film. But the subject changed. He chose not to audition me and offered me Dhadak instead.”