EXCLUSIVE! Ishaan Khatter on voicing for the character of Raavan & Amazon Prime Video’s Pippa

Ishaan Khatter has been making some very interesting choices as an actor right from his debut Beyond The Clouds. He has some intriguing projects coming up in future too and he’s surely making sure his present has equal meat.

The actor has voiced the character of Raavan in the audio project Ravan Rising which is an Audible Original podcast series. He also spoke about his upcoming film on Amazon Prime Video _Pippa_ in an interview exclusively with Firstpost.

About the audio project

The series showcases some of the formative moments that shaped Ravan’s journey from a young warrior to the terrifying demon King. As an older Ravan (Sanjay Dutt) shares a first-person account of his journey, the story of young Ravan (Ishaan) comes alive. Young Ravan is a child of two worlds, the rakshasa side of his mother and the human side of his father.

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Born of both cultures, yet never truly belonging to either, his dual nature is at constant odds internally battling between unrestrained passion and disciplined intellect. As Ravan rises from warrior to leader to claim the kingdom of Lanka, he embraces the wild, cruel and passionate nature of his rakshasa mother and tempers it with the more disciplined beliefs of his human father. This is also a story about family and how the earliest relationships forever define us.

Edited excerpts from the interview

What do you have to say about lending your voice for a character as challenging and iconic as Raavan?

It’s definitely a new ground for me. It was quite an enjoyable and rewarding experience. As actors, you’re used to dubbing for your characters, but it’s different from dubbing purely for audio and telling a story entirely through your voice. That’s entirely a new muscle to stretch and I enjoyed it very much. The material is also very fascinating, the character felt like it was 5-10 characters. Raavan is such a fascinating character that it took everything from me for those 6-7 days.

How did you prepare yourself as an actor to lend your voice for Raavan?

Everything that I did as an actor prepared me for this but reading the script was something that was required to understand the tone and rhythm of the language, that’s always a must. There was a lot of discovery on the job. But how do you prepare for an action sequence entirely depending upon your voice? You have to trust your creators that they will build a world around you purely using your voice but you have to use your own imagination and sound truthful and correct.

What’s the importance of voice modulation for an actor in cinema?

It’s one of the biggest instruments we have to express the substance of a character and the substance of a story so if you’re blessed with a voice and have the desire to explore it, you must as an actor. I think it’s so fascinating because so much can be communicated by voice alone, just the sound of the voice. You can lie with your words but you cannot lie with your voice since that’s something that’s always truthful and visceral.

We can have our own interpretations and imaginations while listening to a story. What do you have to say about the audio medium?

It’s totally a different way of engaging with a story and it’s now all the way more interesting. It’s new and unique but at the same time, sound can be a very powerful way of telling a story. If done well, it can take precedence over seeing or reading something.

Pippa looks intriguing. What can we expect from this film and how has been your experience working with the whole team?

It’s, in many ways, first of its kind, a true blue war film but it’s also very human as a story. It’s not just glorifying it. It’s a fantastic team that has put it together. Raja Menon, who directed Airlift, is the director of the film, Siddharth Roy Kapur and Ronnie Screwvala are the producers, and it’s made with a lot of research and good work. This is one film I’m really proud of. It’s about the 1971 war and we have shot with real tanks, so there’s a lot to be excited about and share.