Ishaan Khattar on The Perfect Couple, working with Nicole Kidman | Exclusive

isan welcome to India Today firstly congratulations I mean my insta page right now is blowing up from all the premier pictures that you put up all the comments I've been reading the love that you've been getting it's outstanding it must be feeling surreal to be on that red carpet to be able to sort of So In This Moment have you soaked in this moment are you living it right now how do you feel you've done the red carpet you've done the Press you've met your friends on the red carpet You' met Florence that pictures gone viral talk bit about how the last two days have been is does it feel sural um thank you tar it's nice to see you and uh yeah I have no option but to live it I'm here right now and uh um it's it's um it's certainly a very exciting moment for me I've been looking forward to it for a while it's been a long time coming and um and it feels lovely I think the London Premier went off very successfully um you know everyone seems to have taken to the first episode in a great way and uh um I'm very excited to see how the global audience reacts to this series it's it's definitely fresh and unique and highly bingeable and uh you know it has somebody of the caliber of uh Susanna beer um helming it I think she's made some of the most bingeable TV in the last few years she's done the undoing and a night manager and then come into this so um yeah I'm really looking forward to how the audiences react now I think so far it's been received wonderfully we have the LA Premier this evening evening as well which I'm looking forward to uh so yep you know if you ever had a bucket list or you were playing a game at home with friends and they were like tell us five things that you will ever do one day being in the same frame as Nicole Kidman was that ever on that list I mean how how was that experience like the first day meeting her well I have to say I think one of the things that happened early for me is as a copile I had manifested that someday I get to work with the likes of Majid Majid and uh you know it happened to me as my first film no less so after that everything that has happened has kind of exceeded my expectations so I've I I I I I'm not even going to try I mean to imagine you know sharing the screen with an icon like Nicole Kidman may may have been a farway thought but um yeah I mean it's a beautiful feeling she's incredible she um she is all that and more I can testify having you know had the good pleasure of working with her now she's um she's incredible I mean she she commands all the love and respect um she's extremely present and sincere and um you know full of ideas that interpret the text in such a new and fresh way and U that's extremely inspiring to watch as a young actor um you know to have that kind of drive and passion um for your work and forward you know years decades down the line is is uh definitely remarkable and I hope to also match that someday you know the first episode is so interesting because when you come into that frame it's it's so quiet and you know there is this whole vibe about you don't really get to know much where is this guy leading there is so much happening around you yet in that storm you're very calm and I also like the fact that how you kept this entire project so quiet and now it just dropped and everybody is just going bonkers over it um how I mean you've told me about the reactions you've had to the first episode but tell me a bit about shooter what was it like playing shooter well for one uh you know I do like to work in silence I think uh your work should speak for itself um as far as shooter is concerned I think he definitely was written in to have that element of mystery and that was one of the first things that I recognized and enjoyed very much about the character when I read it and um and so yes I mean uh you'll have to keep watching how it builds and gradually evolves to understand what's at the core of it um and hopefully it'll still leave space and room for more interpretation after you done and continue to interact with you um I think um yeah it's a very exciting part it's a new kind of part I don't think I I had a reference for it and um it was a lot of fun working with Susanna to to find the right balance because it's a tight rope you know it's a very thin line with this character one had to keep it grounded one had to keep it um a bit subtle almost and nuanced for for it to pop out at the right moments and um and yeah I think uh hopefully we've achieved that let's see you'll be the right person to let us know I absolutely love the I mean I did realize that I only have the first episode to watch by well I'm excited to know what you think after you've seen all six yeah yeah so I can't wait to jump into the second episode and then more but I also want to speak to you bit about you're always hungry for work and I think this is a testament of your perseverance it's a Testament of the fact that you've stayed true to who you are despite all the odds all the the so-called Norms coming in going out how do you handle the pressures of these cool fats that one needs to conform to because you're in a generation that's so young you're such a young actor right well first of all thank you for saying that that's such a nice thing to say um I definitely think it's very important to hold on to your sense of self because I mean it's all you have as an artist is your independent unique voice right and and if you lose sense of self early on you know what do you have to give so um it's very important to me to keep growing as a person as well and not not just an artist because that's what feeds my art and um yeah and I I feel like I have have the conviction to know that you know I I can put my money where my mouth is as far as work is concerned um as far as um dedication and sincerity I I've always been that person so um so yeah I I've been committed to um to trying to push the envelope as far as you know roles are concerned and um work is concerned and uh it's been a big part of um I think holding on to my VDS in in this career because of course like you said there's a lot of pressure and it comes from every direction and every angle but yeah it's early days right and and uh I'm still defining my my presence on screen and um and I hope the audience also enjoys and often I've found I've got this feedback very often is that they enjoy not knowing what's going to come next and um hopefully I can strike the right balance where I give them what they want from me and at the same time hopefully I can surprise them every time and um I'll keep striving to do that and and let's see how it turns out I think you should just do you I think that's the best thing one can do in life you just do yourself and quickly to get in a bit of trivia of Indian films I mean I absolutely love Mula rouj it's a film that I keep revisiting because of the music because of the performances and Nicole's connection with India through mulu is so special and she's spoken about that did you get to discuss Indian films or Indian culture with of the people on set well actually it was Nicole who was most um interested and inclined towards talking about that and and of course all my co-actors um you know Jack Rainer has has traveled um there a couple of times and um and he loves Indian food Etc of course but in Nicole's case um I think she's been exposed to the culture M multiple times even through her work like you mentioned and um one of the most I think like borderline profound conversations that I had in that period of working was with her and um and I enjoyed it very much and she she had a lot of questions to ask about the culture about well identity which um yeah which is something that is very close to my heart as well so um yeah I really appreciate her for having that kind of um you know openness and and like a liberal world and wanting to know about different cultures and that's what makes her the wonderful artist that she is I think isan I can't congratulate you much I'm so excited to see you be a part of this and rep all of us out there it's so interesting to see anybody from the country sort of get on that platform and do your thing and then get champion and get that appreciation so congratulations again and like you said this is just the beginning I absolutely feel so I absolutely enjoyed the first episode can't wait to see what shooter does next so I I will keep watching this and perhaps when you're back home we will have a longer chat about this thank you so much thank you take care bye