They had us at “hello!” Ishaan Khatter and Janhvi Kapoor, the young stars of teen romance Dhadak, walked into the t2 office on Friday afternoon to talk about their July 20 film. And for half an hour, the two made us crack up as they spoke about their chemistry, shooting Dhadak in Calcutta and what their families — Janhvi is Sridevi and Boney Kapoor’s daughter; Ishaan is Shahid Kapoor’s younger brother — have advised them about the film business.
Priyanka Roy (Team t2): Has promoting Dhadak been as much fun as making it, or can nothing compare with the high one feels while making a film?
Ishaan Khatter: Nothing compares!
Janhvi Kapoor: Nothing comes close to that experience, in life, I think! It’s been a learning experience to get to meet so many new people and talk to them. And I think that it makes you more aware of the kind of opinions that are there about your film. I think it’s fun to go and persuade people and encourage them to watch your work.
Ishaan: It also makes you aware of how largely anticipated this film is. Definitely would not have known this otherwise, not this way, at least.
Priyanka: What’s the best compliment you’ve got so far?
Ishaan: There have been a lot of very encouraging comments. I think it’s when people say that we really feel like watching the film!
Pramita Ghosh (Team t2): How much of Ishaan is in Madhukar and how much of Janhvi is in Parthavi?
Janhvi: I don’t think that we’re very similar at all. I actually think there is more Ishaan in Parthavi than there is Janhvi!
Ishaan: Likewise.
Janhvi: But that’s what I liked about her so much, that she’s so different from me. I learnt a lot from her. Culturally, we’re completely different… she’s from Udaipur, I’m from Bombay. The kind of lives we lead are completely different. But she’s extremely strong and much more mature than I am. At the same time, I feel like we’re similar in the way that we’re somewhat sheltered by our parents. Parthavi comes from a royal family and she feels she’s representing her family. And I feel like I also went through a similar thing because my family... they are also public figures. Like me, she also hasn’t seen a lot of life.
Ishaan: Madhukar is quite a departure from what I am in real life. His upbringing is different, but his values and characteristics are similar to mine. He has a certain childlike quality that I could associate with. He also looks a little different, he’s got different mannerisms.
Pramita: We love your fresh chemistry in the trailer and on your Insta Stories. Did you know each other well before doing the film?
Ishaan: We’d met twice fleetingly. The first time wouldn’t really qualify as a meeting and the second time, we spoke for about 15 minutes. Besides that, we didn’t really know each other. We did speak once or twice…
Janhvi: Umm, no… we spoke quite a bit! We spoke for a week, I think…
Ishaan: Yeah, yeah!
Janhvi: And then we just stopped talking!
Ishaan: I think we were always kind of curious… at least I was curious to get to know her, the “enigma” that she is! (Janhvi bursts out laughing) I think we only really got to know each other during the preparatory stage of this film.
Janhvi: I just remembered that the first picture you sent me was of a pair of red curtains! That was so random.
Ishaan: Yeah, these awful-looking red curtains!
Pramita: So who is the bully and who is the prankster between the two of you?
Janhvi: He thinks that I bully him, but I really think that he’s the bully.
Ishaan: Both of us are pranksters…
Janhvi: We trouble each other.
Ishaan: Of late, she’s derived a lot of characteristics from Parthavi and decided to become more of an assertive, bully person, not just with me but with everyone from the unit.
Janhvi: Shouldn’t an actor grow from all of her characters? (Laughs)
Ishaan: This actor grows and now we have to deal with it!
Rushati Mukherjee (Jadavpur University, MA, 2nd year): What was your first day on shoot like?
Ishaan: We actually had quite an elaborate preparatory stage where we spent around a month-and-a-half reading and doing rehearsals. We also travelled together twice for the recce of the film to Jaipur and Udaipur. That’s where we got to know each other. By the time we got on set, we were pals!
Rushati: Did you guys have fun, or was it only work?
Janhvi: It was serious when it had to be serious, but for the most part we were having a lot of fun. The whole unit really enjoyed each other’s company. All of us loved waking up every day and coming on set.
Ishaan: I am not sure all of us loved waking up, but we definitely liked coming on set! (Everyone laughs)
Janhvi: I think we all loved waking up! There were days when we had no sleep...
Ishaan: We would happily wake up, but it isn’t the same as loving waking up!
Priyanka (to Ishaan): What time do you generally wake up when you don’t have to get to set?
Ishaan: I think the timings and cycle keep changing depending on what I am doing at that point in life. With motivation we can be morning people! (Laughs) When we are working, we were perennially running on like four hours of sleep.
Janhvi: Four hours was our average. I think we had more energy then than we’ve had since (giggles).
Zeba Akhtar (Team t2): Zingaat is such a high-energy song. Was it tough mastering those steps?
Ishaan: Did we even master them?
Team t2: Of course!
Ishaan: The idea was never to actually master it…
Janhvi: It was supposed to be unmastered! (Laughs)
Ishaan: Only the hook step was defined, the rest of the song was improvised. It was just about going crazy to the song! They wanted it to look rough, and unrehearsed. So, I hope it didn’t look rehearsed!
Priyanka: Janhvi, Ishaan had already shot for Beyond The Clouds when he went to the sets of Dhadak. Did he have any words of wisdom for you?
Janhvi: I think one film is equal to a lifetime of experience and he had the opportunity to experience that with a director like Majid Majidi. He never tried to impose his advice, but he knew his way around a film set and in front of the camera. There were things that I watched and learnt, and sometimes when I needed help he guided.
Pramita: Earlier this year, you guys shot in Calcutta for Dhadak. What was that like?
Janhvi: It was a lot of fun. I think it was such a contrast to the world that Parthavi and Madhu were coming from. Udaipur is such a small city and here, the scale just went up. Calcutta has a character and it lent so much to the film, especially locations like Prinsep Ghat, Victoria Memorial, Howrah Bridge…. the colour palette of the city is so different. I really do wish to come back and spend more time here.
Madhumita Ghosh (Loreto College, 3rd year): Did you have any fun in Calcutta or was it just work?
Ishaan: It was just work!
Janhvi: Yes, it was just work… but work is fun!
Priyanka: Did you eat anything here that you liked?
Janhvi: He likes mishti doi. He had a lot of sandesh with nolen gur ice cream. And then he liked that rose ice cream also.
Ishaan: We were fortunate enough to be put up in a really nice hotel and they had the best ice creams. I don’t think there was a single meal where I went without having at least a scoop of ice cream!
Janhvi: And the way our story progresses, the lifestyles of the characters change drastically in the second half when we come to Calcutta. Ideally, I wanted to lose some weight and I ended up looking like an aate ki bori by the end if it! (Laughs)
Zeba: What’s that one thing you like and hate about each other?
Ishaan: She almost always smells great!
Janhvi: ‘Almost always’ means what?!
Ishaan: I mean when you are not smelling good, you’re smelling great!
Janhvi: Okay! That was a good save!
Ishaan: One thing I don’t like about her is that she does not take my advice on diet seriously. I think she’s on an unhealthy diet and she needs to start eating a little normal.
Janhvi: I think he’s going to start crying if he talks a little more about this! One thing I really like about him? That he has ‘twinkly’ eyes! (Smiles) Now, what I don’t like… I can’t say! (Giggles)
Ishaan: What? Say, say? (Leans in to hear Janhvi whisper)
Janhvi: But that’s also something that I like.
Ishaan: I know what it is!
Janhvi: Yeah, it’s cute though!
Rushati: Janhvi, what’s this obsession you have with carrying tiffin boxes around and, of course, your pink water bottle!
Janhvi: (Laughs) I just like it. In school, they would always give me this ugly chandi ka dabba with the oil from the gravy dripping… which was disgusting.
Ishaan: And she is making up for it now!
Janhvi: And I hated those steel water bottles, so I got myself a ‘chuski’, which is the shiny pink bottle which I am very attached to. Then I got a matching dabba, a shiny pink one… and it’s a happy family now!
Pramita: Both of you are only active on Instagram. Is there a reason why you haven’t had a go at other social media platforms?
Ishaan: We are active in life also!
Janhvi: Just Instagram is too much for me!
Ishaan: I agree… it’s overwhelming as it is. I enjoy Instagram because it is a visual medium platform, with more photographs.
Janhvi: I don’t think I have much to say on Twitter and I don’t know what I would say… I will probably talk about my pink bottle! (Everyone laughs)
Zeba: If you guys created a Twitter account for each other, what one-line bio would you come up with?
Janhvi: His would be, ‘Learner, grower…’
Ishaan: Grower? What is grower?! ‘Learner’ she picked up from my Instagram (bio).
Janhvi: I swear I did not. I did naaaaaath! (Says it with an accent)
Ishaan: Her bio would be ‘I did naaaaath’. N-A-A-H-H-H-T! (Laughs)
Pramita: If you are stuck in traffic and fiddling with your phone, what will you be most likely to check out?
Janhvi: Food videos! And he will be stalking me.
Ishaan: I will be listening to music.
Janhvi: Why? Why not stalking me?!
Ishaan: And stalking her, simultaneously. I can multitask! (Laughs)
Madhumita: Describe your life using a film title…
Janhvi: The Double Life of Veronique.
Ishaan: I love the film and she thinks it’s fitting for her life. For me, right now I think it would be… Dhadak… on the 20th of July!
Janhvi & Ishaan: Plug in!
Zeba: Both of you are super fit. What do you focus on when it comes to fitness apart from all the running around you are doing to promote your film?
Janhvi: Promotions make us unfit because we don’t get to exercise.
Ishaan: We mostly sit at promotions and then do random bursts of dance. Sitting, sitting, sitting and then ‘Zingaaaaaaat!’ And again sitting, sitting, sitting… it’s like the body can’t cope. It asks, ‘Tujhko chahiye kya bhai?’ (Everyone laughs)
Janhvi: When it comes to exercise, I do functional training.
Ishaan: She does lifting and squats every other day and I also squat! (Laughs) I like to mix it up, so I do Parkour, play football, dance… I am a dancer, essentially.
Priyanka: What’s the best advice you’ve got from your family, most of whom are in the film business?
Janhvi: The best advice I think was that to be a good actor you need to be an honest and humble human being.
Ishaan: Which your mother told you…
Janhvi: Ya, my mom told me that, and my dad said that on a film set, your job is not more or less important than anyone else’s and no one’s job is important than the film.
Ishaan: The same thing was told to me by my mother (actress Neelima Azeem)… that it’s very important to be a good human being. My brother told me, ‘Whatever you do in front of the camera, just be very honest and don’t pretend… the camera will catch that’.
Madhumita: Janhvi, if you had to advise your sister Khushi on an acting career, what would it be?
Janhvi: I don’t think she needs advice from me or anyone. She is, honestly, much more sorted than I am. She’s very independent, she is not as needy as I am (smiles). I think something like this needs to be her own personal journey. I don’t think anyone can teach you the beats. I think I will just ask her to enjoy and give it her best.
Ishaan or Janhvi — who are you looking forward to watching in Dhadak?
Tell t2@abp.in
Pictures: Pabitra Das and
Arnab Mondal
