Singer Billie Eilish has spoken out against AI-generated images of her attending the 2025 Met Gala, which sparked criticism online.

In a video shared on her Instagram Story, Eilish laughed at the negative reactions, revealing she was not even at the event.

“I wasn’t there. That’s AI,” Eilish said, while eating an ice cream cone.

“I had a show in Europe that night. Let me be! I wasn’t even there!” The singer was performing in Amsterdam as part of her ‘Hit Me Hard and Soft’ tour, which coincided with the Met Gala on May 5.

Earlier, fellow musician Katy Perry also addressed similar fake images of her attending the Met Gala, captioning a post, “Couldn’t make it to the MET” and referencing her own tour schedule.

Eilish expressed frustration over people criticising her supposed Met Gala look, and said, “Seeing people talk about what I wore to this year’s Met Gala being trash… I wasn’t there!,” as quoted by E! News.

The 2025 Met Gala celebrated the Costume Institute’s spring exhibition, ‘Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,’ which explores the concept of dandyism and its impact on Black style from the 18th century to the present.

The event’s dress code, ‘Tailored for You,’ encouraged the attendees to get creative with suiting and tailoring.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

“Yeah, I know when I’ve nailed it!”

That’s how our conversation with the man of the moment, Ishaan Khatter, begins.

His latest, The Royals, has all the razzmatazz of a blingy modern show. Ishaan Khattar’s washboard abs have opened the floodgates to a slew of memes, while his chemistry with Bhumi Pednekar is also being talked about.

In a Bridgerton-esque set-up, Ishaan as his Royal Highness Aviraaj Singh commands your attention, and the show passes the test of being binge-worthy with flying colours.

The actor who debuted back in 2017 with Beyond The Clouds, has come a long way with International titles in his kitty now.

In a conversation with NDTV, Ishaan reveals his more vulnerable side, and whether he self-analyses his work too much.

On Not Being Unnecessarily Harsh On Himself

Mostly when actors are asked to dig deeper into their own body of work, self-criticism takes centrestage. Someone as terrific as Kareena Kapoor Khan has gone on the record to say that she never watches her movies. 

Is that a trend then to leave room for improvement?

Ishaan begs to differ, “I’m not unnecessarily harsh on myself, for sure. When I saw my first film Beyond The Clouds at the BFI Film Festival in London, with an audience of 2,000 people, I realised that I could be a little objective about my work. The first time you see yourself on screen, you can’t see anything but yourself and you don’t notice the film. I was able to watch the film. I had my opinions.”

Ishaan’s filmography has him from a lovestruck middle-class lad, running down the streets of Udaipur to win over his ladylove in Dhadak; to living life, “king-sized”, surrounded by all the riches and jewels as “The Royal” of Morpur.

Ishaan tells NDTV, “I had my opinions about my work, that it was not tipping too much in any one direction. It’s personal; it’s my own thing. I don’t share everything with everyone either, but I think when you’re able to look at your work and asses it, it’s a sign of growth.”

The Royal Mess

While it’s very easy to get swayed by all the sparkle and la dolce vita exteriors in The Royals, it’s the more emotion-laden scenes that grab your attention.

Ishaan owns the screen when he has a meltdown, his raging arguments with Sophia (Bhumi), his frustrating conversations with his deranged family, and beneath it all, a childhood lesson from his father that made him turn against his royal life. It’s all woven into his character in The Royals.

Ishaan elaborates, “I think Aviraaj as a character is very different from me. There was a significant distance for me to cover, to find Aviraaj and become Aviraaj, but at the same time, I think I did bring myself to the character quite a bit in the more sensitive moments, as you mentioned.”

He adds, “I wanted to delve deeper into the father track. A lot of it was withheld from the audience and you don’t ever see Aviraaj and his father together, there was a deep woundedness to that part. He’s very sensitive about his relationship with his father. It was probably a very good relationship. It’s probably the one good relationship. Until it wasn’t. I wanted to bring that out, I guess I succeeded.”

The Battle Of Numbers Vs Content Is King

There are some projects one does for numbers, while there are some that an artist picks just to showcase calibre. The latter need not necessarily lead to fruitful results in terms of commercial gain.

Ishaan sheds light on it for he has been at both ends of the pole. He’s been daring to debut with a content-driven film like Beyond The Clouds which found its calling at a reputed Film Festival, then he’s also donned the loverboy image in Dhadak.

But does the pressure get a bit too overwhelming at times between what to pick and what not to?

Ishaan says, “No, I think once you’ve decided to do something and if it’s drawn you in, it’s more excitement and maybe nervous excitement. Sure, it takes a lot of thinking out of you, but I also try to not be academic about it. Something on the page could read amazing and then it could be executed badly. You can work with the most successful director, and make their most unsuccessful film, that’s just how the nature of the business is.”

On His Bond With Brother Shahid Kapoor

Ishaan Khatter and Shahid Kapoor’s sibling bond has always been a sight of great delight. Ishaan’s face lights up when he speaks about his brother, as for someone who’s had his highs and lows, his advice is paramount to The Royals actor.

Ishaan says, “You know it is a beautiful thing that my brother once told me. He said, ‘Be the sun, be the source yourself. Don’t try to find the light that’s shining off of somebody else. Just be your person and trust what you are bringing to the table.”

Has Shahid been a strict critic of his work though, or was there no flaw to find?

Ishaan says, “Not at all, trust me, he’s not always been appreciative. He’s been very appreciative sometimes and it means the world to me because I know he would never just say something to me to make me happy. But he also keeps it very real with me, tells it as it is, good and bad, since the beginning.”

Cannes Calling

It’s a Cannes state of mind for the young actor who is heading to the Film Festival with his film Homebound this year. The film also stars Janhvi Kapoor and Vishal Jethwa. It is having its world premiere under the Un Certain Regard section and is directed by Neeraj Ghaywan.

Ishaan has other pressing matters at hand though, the actor jokes, “You know there are two things that I always do at the last minute; packing, and not letting the moment sink in until it’s happening!”

Trying to find the right words that justify the feeling of victory, Ishaan says, “It’s a very special film. I’m not worried or nervous. I’m also a big admirer of Neeraj Ghaywan and I’ve wanted to work with him for 10 years. I think he’s made a beautiful film. I gave it my everything. Let’s see now.”

Is His Cannes Dream Rolling The Way He Had Envisioned It?

Ishaan reveals if his mood board for Cannes is going as planned. 

“Cannes, it’s the mecca of film festivals and I always said to myself, ‘I want to go there with a film. I don’t just want to go there, I want to go there to represent my film. I am going to give it to myself, I am very proud of it,” says Ishaan.

There are several videos of the kids that Janhvi and Ishaan were back when Dhadak was released. It is a time capsule that takes you back to the days of Dhadak, and their lovely friendship and innocence.

Ishaan smiles wide as he says, “I think it’s one of the nicer things about social media, like a mirror. And you look at yourself and you’re like, wow, I used to think like that and be like that?”

Speaking of Janhvi, Ishaan adds, “I think we were able to kind of lean on each other during that mild darkness, you know, high stakes, very special moment for both of us. We did find a great friendship. I’m so happy for her and thrilled for her as well. She’s committing to parts to also keep growing as an actor and I wish the best for her and for the film we are presenting now.”

As Ishaan is busy revving up, with his Cannes debut fast approaching, The Royals continues to be a buzzing conversation. For that, and for what’s around the corner, he’s ready to go all in.

New Delhi:

His first Mission: Impossible film was in 1996. Almost three decades and seven films later, Tom Cruise is now 62. And his co-stars in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning doff their hats to the producer and high-octane action star who has made every film in the franchise, all his own, and also mega hits.

For Hayley Atwell, Cruise is a one-man studio. Greg Tarzan Davis says the man is a filmmaking school in himself, Simon Pegg remembers when they went feeding sharks, Esai Morales recalls the energy that he brings to every frame and Angela Bassett just loves to see him run.

After all, Cruise has not only headlined the series as Ethan Hunt, the American spy out to kill the baddies and save the world, but also redefined what it means to be an action star. He has been battered, broken many bones and still insisted on doing his own stunts.

Atwell, who essays the role of his ally Grace, said he is never just an actor on set. He is many things.

“I think it is his ability, how to be spatially aware and how he can be focused very intensely in the scene. But yet you also know that he can see through the lens what is picking up on the camera,” Atwell told PTI in a virtual interview.

“He knows where the focus puller is. He knows what the lighting is doing. If someone sneezes at the back of the set, he’ll bless them and ask them if they are okay. He has the ability to be an actor, a producer, a writer, a director, a lighting designer, a focus puller and a cameraman all at the same time,” she said.

Cruise, who debuted as Hunt in Brian de Palma’s Mission: Impossible, has almost written himself into legend in his subsequent turns as the spy, giving audiences a cinematic experience in all Mission Impossible movies since.

He has taken the art of performing stunts to an unknown level — jumping from one building to another in Mission: Impossible III (2006), scaling the Burj Khalifa in 2011’s Ghost Protocol, hanging off a flying plane in Rogue Nation (2015), or riding a motorcycle off a cliff in the previous entry Dead Reckoning (2023).

In Final Reckoning, speculated to be his swansong, Cruise has pulled off some more daring stunts, including one where he hangs from the wing of a plane.

“He was up there piloting the plane himself obviously, and he was performing on the wing. And he’s the only one really who can be aware of what the camera’s going to pick up and where the light’s going to be and how much he needs to kind of position himself so that the camera can see his performance,” Atwell said.

“So that feels very Tom Cruise to me. He’s a one-man studio,” she added.

Pegg, who has been a regular in the franchise as tech genius Benji Dunn since Mission: Impossible III, recalled the time the cast was shooting in South Africa.

“We were doing a drive up this big long road and the helicopter would follow up the road filming us and then we’d get to the top and we’d all jump in the helicopter and Tom would fly us back down… And then we’d do the shot again,” he said.

The actor said they tried the shot six times and Cruise flew them down every time.

“We got the shot and we had a little bit of time left in the day and Tom said, ‘Hey, do you want to go diving with sharks?’, and we said sure. And so we all got in the helicopter with Tom. We went out to the coast and the next thing we knew it was me, Pom (Klementieff), Tarzan, Hailey, and Tom all in a cage, feeding these giant eight foot copperhead sharks. That is a typical Tom Cruise day.”

Bassett first worked with Cruise on the sixth movie Fallout in 2018, playing CIA deputy director Erika Sloane. She returns for Final Reckoning but this time as US president.

In both movies, Bassett said she would always look forward to Cruise’s running sequences that have also become a signature of the franchise.

“On set I remember seeing the movie or seeing all his movies and commenting, ‘Boy, that guy can run’.”

I know they’re all the big crazy stunts that he does but I really just love to see him sprint nonstop,” she said.

Bassett’s off-stage memory of Cruise is watching him dance, “We know he’s a pretty good dancer, a good dance partner. So his birthday occurred while we were working and we were able to get him to give us a few steps here and there.”

Morales, who plays the villain Gabriel in Final Reckoning, said he is simply in awe of the Hollywood superstar as well as director Christopher McQuarrie, who has helmed all the four instalments since Rogue Nation.

“There’s nothing they won’t tackle. There’s nothing they won’t consider at least, to bring joy and thrills to their audiences.”

Ethan Hunt is now older and weather-beaten, and just as compelling.

According to Morales, the MI franchise sees Hunt evolve.

“You see him from this cheeky young agent. If you go back and see he is literally cheeky. He is like a kid in the beginning of this… Into this weathered person. Every line in your face is a story.”

He also remembered the time Cruise screened a behind-the-scenes promo for the cast.

“It’s nice to have a dinner party. And then he said, ‘I’ve got a surprise for you.’ And we watched this massive screen and at the end of this, you see this little boy emerge from him. He would go like, ‘Isn’t that great?’ And it’s so infectious and you really see that these folks live for their audiences. They live to entertain and hopefully enlighten, but mostly entertain.”

Davis, who also starred in Cruise’s 2022 blockbuster Top Gun: Maverick, said the superstar always puts his best foot forward.

“He demands a certain type of excellence and hard work. And it was cool to be able to see it through both projects. He embraces the fandom and what the audience wants to see and he gives his all to it. What I learned from him is understanding how the audience views film and storytelling. I’m looking forward to taking all the knowledge of this Tom Cruise School of Filmmaking and applying it to my own projects in the future,” Davis told PTI.

Mission: Impossible – Final Reckoning, directed by McQuarrie and co-produced by Cruise, will be released in India in English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu in 4DX and IMAX on May 17, 2025. The film is presented by Paramount Pictures and Skydance Productions. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)