Shahid Kapoor Didn't Want Ishaan Khatter to Work in Udta Punjab: 'I Didn't Want the Baggage Of...'

Shahid Kapoor made a shocking confession about Udta Punjab. The actor revealed he did not want Ishaan Khatter working in the film. For the unversed, Ishaan worked as an Assistant Director (AD) in the Abhishek Chaubey directorial. The film featured Shahid, Kareena Kapoor, Alia Bhatt and Diljit Dosanjh. Shahid essayed the role of a drug-addicted rockstar. Speaking about Ishaan’s role in the film, Shahid said that he was apprehensive about him working in the film because he didn’t want the ‘baggage’ of having his brother on an intense film like Udta Punjab.

“I didn’t want him to be on Udta Punjab. I was playing a cocaine addict. I don’t even know what it is like to have a drink so this was the most challenging film that I was doing and I don’t know if I’ll get the character right. And I don’t want the baggage of having my brother because when your younger brother is an AD, you know your one eye is there (on him). (You are wondering) theek hai kya, khaana kha raha hai? You don’t want to show him that you’re there,” Shahid told Neha Dhupia on her talk show, No Filter Neha.

When she asked if there was a fear of biases, considering Ishaan was the brother of the film’s leading man, Shahid said there were no biases on sets. “I wouldn’t want my elder brother or my father to make me feel that I need to be given special treatment when I want to be included in the team. That’s the worst thing anybody could do to you because then the whole team is looking at you ke ache wo uska bhai hai. You want to be included, you want to be on the same plane, so you get that,” he said.

Shahid also shared an anecdote about Ishaan from the film’s making. He revealed Ishaan was diagnosed with typhoid after he drank water from a handpump. “He wanted to drink water from a handpump. I told him, ‘Ishaan, we are big city kids, I don’t think our systems used to having handpump water.’ He said, ‘Arre bhai, kuch nahi hota,’ He went and had the handpump water and two days later, he fell so ill,” he recalled.

After Udta Punjab, Ishaan made his acting debut in the film Beyond the Clouds before he starred in Dhadak with Janhvi Kapoor.