‘The Perfect Couple’ Star Ishaan Khatter on His Mysterious Character in Netflix’s Star-Studded Thriller: ‘He Is an Animal That Crawls in His Own Path’

Indian actor Ishaan Khatter is turning heads in his second major English-language role, rubbing shoulders with Nicole Kidman and Liev Schreiber in Netflix’s chart-topping thriller “The Perfect Couple.” As Shooter Dival, the outsider in a nest of Nantucket’s elite, Khatter brings a fresh face to the murder mystery that’s captivating global audiences.

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“The Perfect Couple,” adapted from Elin Hilderbrand’s bestselling book, centers on Amelia Sacks (Eve Hewson), a bride set to join Nantucket’s elite. Nicole Kidman stars as Greer Garrison Winbury, the groom’s mother and a renowned author, who orchestrates an opulent wedding. The festivities take a dark turn when a corpse surfaces on the beach, transforming the lavish affair into a hotbed of suspicion. As the investigation unfolds, hidden truths emerge, mirroring the plot twists of Winbury’s own literary works.

Khatter plays Dival, the best man and a boarding school friend of the groom, Benji. Dival is portrayed as an honorary member of the Winbury family, adding another layer to the complex web of relationships in the series. Directed by Susanne Bier (Emmy winner for “The Night Manager”), the show weaves an intricate tale of mystery and high-society intrigue.

The character of Dival intrigued Khatter from the start. “When I read it, there was a veil of mystery in the way the character was treated,” Khatter tells Variety . “I think it was very distinct. And he kind of is an animal that crawls in his own path.”

Khatter made his acting debut in 2017 with the critically acclaimed “Beyond the Clouds,” directed by Iranian auteur Majid Majidi. He followed this with lead roles in Bollywood films such as “Dhadak” (2018) and “Khaali Peeli” (2020). Khatter also received praise for his performance as one of the leads in Mira Nair’s BBC/Netflix series “A Suitable Boy” (2020).

“There are revelations and and I enjoyed the arc very much. I also thought it was interesting because I could not relate to the character on many other levels, except for perhaps an emotional level,” Khatter says about playing Dival. “So it was a new kind of character for me. He’s walking a very thin line of an outsider-insider position in the scheme of things.”

Originally written as white in the source material, the casting of Dival represents a significant shift toward colorblind casting in international productions. “I believe that they decided to go agnostic of ethnicity when they were casting it,” Khatter says. “Bravo to Netflix and the studios and the producers and the makers for taking that decision in the true sense and not just doing it as a tokenized kind of casting.”

This approach to casting opened up new possibilities for Khatter as an actor. “To me personally, as an actor and as somebody who’s used to global cinema as an audience, I think that was what was most exciting for me because I was like, ‘Oh, this is just a part. I can sink my teeth into it, I don’t have to be swimming against the tide in any way,'” he says.

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The actor faced physical challenges during the shoot, dealing with a hip joint injury while adapting to a new cultural environment. “It was physically challenging. And of course, other than that, it was the cultural environment being totally new to adapt to that as well,” he says. Despite these obstacles, Khatter found support in his fellow cast and crew members. “It could have possibly been very overwhelming, but I was well supported. I had a great set of people around me and very capable actors and technicians.”

Hanging out with his fellow actors, and a memorable day trip to Provincetown with Hewson, Dakota Fanning (and her sister Elle who was visiting), Jack Reynor, Billy Howle, Sam Nivola and their friends, helped the assimilation process.

Khatter also made the decision to use a standard American accent for Dival. “I said, I think it should be an American accent, because that’s what makes sense to me being that he went to boarding school with Benji, and everybody in this setup is extremely American,” he explains. The actor added, “It was a new kind of muscle for me as an actor.”

One of the production highlights for Khatter was an unexpected dance sequence added by Bier. “It was a bit of a nightmare for all of the actors, because it was a surprise attack on us by Susanne,” Khatter recalls. The sequence, which wasn’t originally scripted, was introduced to the cast over the holiday break. “Over Christmas, over the holidays, she sent an email to all of us saying, ‘Hey guys, happy Christmas. Here’s a dance that we need you to perform as you get back in the new year.'”

The production started shooting in a week and the cast thought it was a practical joke on them because they couldn’t make sense of where the sequence would appear in the show. “But that’s the genius of Susanne’s vision. I mean, she was able to use it to almost throw off the audience and put them in a position where they don’t know what to expect from the tone of the show, even though it’s a murder mystery and and so yeah, we all ended up doing the dance. We were arm twisted into it,” Khatter says.

Initially met with hesitation, the dance sequence ultimately became a unifying experience for the cast. “By the end of it, I think everybody who came in with hesitation was just enjoying it so much, and it ended up being the last thing that we shot together for the show,” Khatter says. “It was a great way to wrap the show and a great way to go out.”

Next up for Khatter is another Netflix show, the modern-day Indian rom-com series “The Royals,” where he plays the prince charming to Bhumi Pednekar’s startup whiz.

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