By Sanya Pandey

New Delhi, Apr 18 (UNI) Bollywood actor Shahid Kapoor's half-brother Ishaan Khatter who is all set to mark a debut in the industry with Majid Majidi’s directorial ‘Beyond the Clouds’, says his character Aamir is an extension of Majidi sir.

Talking to UNI, Ishaan who was in the National Capital, along with his co-star Malavika Mohanan and Iranian director Majid Majidi, said, “Spending time in Majidi sir's presence, and getting to know him helped me in playing Aamir, because the character stems from him.”

“Aamir is an extension of Majidi sir. So to understand Majidi sir as a person, made me understand Aamir better,” Ishaan said.

The actor also said he spend a lot of time with the text of the film.

Talking about his inputs as an actor in the project, Ishaan said, 'I am a first time actor and Majidi sir was gracious enough to listen to my opinion most often. But I think most of my input as an actor was to do my responsibility and my own character.”

“So most of my inputs were to do language of the character, and his choices in the moments in the scene. I tried to spend most of the time at the locations that this boy Aamir would have grown up in,” he said.

Telling about his research for the role, Ishaan said, 'I used to spent time in Dharavi. I roamed about, exploring the place, talking to the locals. I was fortunate that I had cast members, who are playing my friends in the film were born and brought up in Dharavi. We became good pals. I used to converse with them about their lives, they used to tell me about their experiences and that helped me in understanding my character better.”

On asking what did he learnt from Majid Majidi, Ishaan said, 'We spoke about everything under the Sun during the time we had spend together. And I think the biggest learning that I received from him was that so many things will catch up with you, so many responsibilities will come to you because you are an actor, but it is very important to retain your values, remain a good human being, strive to be a better person and if you prioritize that then everything else will come to you.”

The actor said that all the stories of Majidi reflect his values and the person he is.

“They are deeply humane. So being in tune with him helped me playing this character better and give him what he wanted. And I feel we are like minded people and I think it only brought me closer to him. I guess it made our tuning more synchronised,” he said.

On asking whether this movie has opened the avenues for him outside India, Ishaan said, 'Yeah I hope so because it has a wide release all over the world.”

“I don't have any control over these things but with the little knowledge I have, I can say that the film is going to be watched by followers of Majidi sir all over the world. But beyond that I don't have control on the things,” he said.

On the changes that has come in his personality after doing this project, Ishaan said his values have been reassured after this movie.

“There are many changes in my personality after doing this movie. As an actor I have achieved something, have become more confident, it was a cathartic experience. My values have been reassured after this film. I have got a stamp of Majidi sir that the path I am in, the way I think that is correct and keep that thing maintained, and keep growing as an human being,” Ishaan said.

‘Beyond the Clouds’ is a drama film written and directed by Majid Majidi and original score composed by A R Rahman. The film stars Ishaan Khatter and Malavika Mohanan in the lead roles.

The story is centered around a brother-sister relationship. Further it focuses on the siblings' bond, on human relationships in general.

The flick is scheduled to release on April 20.

UNI PY SB 1137