Ishaan Khatter on his bond with Homebound co-star Vishal Jethwa: He would say, ‘I am feeling like your girlfriend’
Ishaan Khatter has had a dream run last year on screen. One of the biggest highlights of it came with Neeraj Ghaywan-directed Homebound which has been India’s official entry to the Oscars 2026. The film starring Ishaan Khatter with Vishal Jethwa and Janhvi Kapoor even made it to the Top 15 shortlist and the actor got to bond more with his co-star Vishal Jethwa during the Oscar campaign in the US. As he returns to the States for the campaign again, Ishaan shares how the film gave him a lifelong friendship with his co-actor.
“Vishal and I have literally been each other’s sahara through it all, because the friendship is the hero of the story and we worked very closely, so it all started from there. One of the first things that Neeraj told us was, ‘I need you guys to be vulnerable with each other. I don’t want you to just be colleagues where you share only your success and your happiness, that kind of relationship which is more surface level’. He said, ‘I want you to share your insecurities, be honest with each other, be vulnerable with each other’.”
Recalling their first meeting, Ishaan shares, “The first time that we met one-on-one, he came to my house. We sat together, I made him coffee, then we just spoke. We got to know each other on a slightly deeper level and then this story just continued through. We used to go to villages in Barabanki to prep for the film. Vishal ke pair mein chot lag gayi thi and usme kaanch chala gaya tha. He had gotten a surgery done and he had a cast. He couldn’t walk much, but we were mostly walking wherever we were going. So, usko main godi mein leke chalta tha, and he would tell say, ‘I am feeling like your girlfriend ki tu mujhe itna laad pyaar de raha hai’.” That bond has only flourished as the actors have been at each other’s side during the film’s Oscar campaign in the States.
Ishaan is all paise for Janhvi Kapoor too as he reflects on their growth since their joint debut in Dhadak: “Janhvi and I obviously started together with Dhadak and we’ve seen each other grow into these new people. She’s a young woman now, and I’m a young man, it had been seven years since we worked together and it’s such a different way you look at each other. It’s a lovely feeling and she is holding her own so well.”
