Ishaan Khatter

I've worked towards self-development as an aspiring artiste. I've been most passionate about dancing and acting, so I have followed it obsessively.

I believe that the environment at home has been fairly secular and liberal. And most times, it comes from my mother. Our culture is very strong, but at the same time, she's a very free-spirited person. She's an artiste, and that's the environment I grew up in, where films and music were respected and meditated upon.

There was a time when I would sit with my books and immediately put them away. I'm not dyslexic, but I was like that child in 'Taare Zameen Par.' Coincidentally, the character's name was also Ishaan.

There are a lot of people who are overly judgemental on the Internet.

I enjoy Instagram because it is a visual medium platform, with more photographs.

The first time I met Janhvi on the sets, I took her to watch 'La La Land,' because she hadn't seen it. Soon, we started bonding over cinema - both of us are film buffs - and we realised we share a natural equation.

People presume that just because I am Shahid Kapoor's brother, I must have studied in an international school, gone out on foreign vacations, and had a certain kind of upbringing. But the truth is quite different, and I am very proud of where I come from.

There was a day when I woke up and realised that I had to pinch myself, since I was going to work with Majid Majidi.

I believe if you are sincere with your work and you are good at it, then your identity will be created by default.