There’s one thing that differentiates Ishaan Khatter from some of the male actors in Bollywood is the way he sensitively handles his characters in his projects. In an interview, he stated that men are taught not to be women, which is sometimes depicted in the way masculine characters are portrayed in cinema. But it’s important to show empathy and break that stereotype. Read on!
Ishaan Khatter opens up on the portrayal of male characters in cinema
During a roundtable on We Are Yuvaa, Ishaan Khatter gave hope in the way men are portrayed in cinema. Masculinity, to him, has been defined by the fact that he has been raised by a single mother, actress Neliima Azeem, who separated from Rajesh Khattar when Ishaan was 6 years old.
“I have been able to break that stigma as I have always been able to relate to a woman’s perspective because of my mother,” he opined. Khatter went on to underline that in the eight years of his career, he has worked with 50 percent of female makers. Therefore, a lot of his understanding of what it means to be a man is in correlation with the relationship between men and women.
According to him, sometimes we confuse what it means to be a man. “I read it recently, ‘Men are not taught to be men; they’re just taught not to be women.’ I think it’s important to break that mentality and have conversations in public about these things is important,” stated The Royals star.
Ishaan further shared that a large part of who he is as a person and as an actor is because he has been subject to the female gaze and been privy to it. “Main usko kuch hadd tak samajh paaya hoon. Ek alag nazariya samajh paana bahut badi taaqat hoti hai (I have been able to understand it to some extent. To understand a different perspective is a great strength), and that is what cinema is for. That is what we all do. The job is empathy,” concluded the Beyond the Clouds debutant.
On the work front, Ishaan was last seen in India’s official entry to Oscars, Homebound.
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