Sanyukta Iyer (MUMBAI MIRROR; June 23, 2017)

Shahid Kapoor’s younger brother, Ishaan Khattar, went through a rigorous prep last year and an even more strenuous shoot in Mumbai earlier this year for his upcoming debut, Beyond The Clouds. Directed by Majid Majidi, the film revolves around a brother-sister relationship with Malayali actress Malavika Mohanan playing his sibling.

Ishaan, who surrendered to the Iranian director completely, has done everything from running on the streets all day to putting a little girl to sleep so Majidi would get the perfect waking up shot. For one crucial action scene, he had to roll around and fight in the muck with two other actors at the Sewri jetty. “By the time Majidi shouted ‘cut’ Ishaan was covered in dirt and unrecognizable. He actually had to jump into the muck 64 times before the perfectionist filmmaker was satisfied,” informs a source, adding that this was one of the many shots that required over 50 takes.

The 21-year-old-actor who made a three-second-long special appearance at a party thrown by his brother Shahid aka Tommy Singh in Abhishek Chaubey’s drugs drama, Udta Punjab, was handpicked by the 58-year-old auteur from over 1000 contenders for the role. Beyond The Clouds wrapped up with a chawl sequence in the first week of May after a five-month marathon sequence.