Ishaan Khatter shared how shooting The Perfect Couple in Cape Cod felt isolating compared to Mumbai, as he managed all his chores alone without staff support. Despite battling a severe hip injury from an earlier project, he continued filming, doing his own rehab and daily tasks throughout the months-long schedule
Ishaan Khatter
Ishaan Khatter stepped into Hollywood with The Perfect Couple in 2024, sharing screen space with Nicole Kidman. In a candid conversation on mid-day’s podcast series The Bombay Film Story, the actor reflected on the unique experience of working overseas and the challenges he faced along the way.
Change of scene
Recalling his first impression of Cape Cod, where the film was shot, Ishaan said the place felt eerily deserted.
“The first day I got in, it was a ghost town. It was early spring and not the season time,” he shared.
The emptiness was in sharp contrast to the bustling streets of Mumbai that he was accustomed to.
“I’ve done Mumbai locals for a year straight, every day, to get to my dance training from Andheri to Mahalakshmi. So anyone who’s done that knows what life is—you’re squeezed like that with people,” Ishaan said, comparing the two worlds.
Living without staff
Unlike the typical film shoots where actors are put up in hotels with support staff, the team was given private houses to stay in during the months-long schedule.
“I didn’t have any of my own staff there and was completely by myself, doing all my chores,” he said.
He recounted managing everything solo, “I was getting my groceries, cooking my food, cleaning, doing the laundry, driving myself to set, doing the work, coming back, doing the rehab, and also trying to train and look physically good for the part that later turned out to be a bit of a thirst trap. They didn’t exactly pitch me like that, but when I saw it, I thought, oh, that’s how it looks.”
Coping with a serious injury
Adding to the challenge, Ishaan revealed he was battling a severe injury throughout the shoot.
“It was very scary for me because I’m a dancer, and I had a labral tear in my hip joint, which made it difficult for me to even walk,” he said.
Explaining how it happened, the Royals actor shared, “It was an overuse tear that happened while I was filming a musical with Vishal (Bhardwaj) sir—the iPhone short film I did called Fursat. But when I went there, it was acute, it was really bad, and I had to find my own way of getting someone to do physical therapy, do my own rehab, drive myself to set, do my lines on the way, and come back.”
“They just gave us a private home and a rental car,” he concluded.
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