Ravi Kishan's daughter Ishita Shukla chose military service over Bollywood career
Ishita Shukla, daughter of actor and MP Ravi Kishan, enlisted as a Mahila Agniveer in 2023 after three years in the National Cadet Corps, taking an unconventional path for a star child in India's film industry.
Why Ravi Kishan's daughter Ishita chose the Army instead of following her family into Bollywood
When Ishita Shukla told her father she wanted to join the Indian armed forces, Ravi Kishan gave his immediate approval. Then reality set in.
The actor and Gorakhpur MP, who won his seat in 2019 with a commanding margin of over 3 lakh votes and was re-elected in 2024, began reconsidering the physical demands and rigours of military training. His daughter ended the discussion with a single question: why did he wear a kurta and go to Parliament?
The point was clear. He had chosen public service through politics. She would choose it through the military.
Born on 10 February in Barain, Jaunpur district, Uttar Pradesh, Ishita Shukla grew up in a family steeped in cinema. Her father is among the most prominent figures in Bhojpuri film, with more than 200 credits to his name. Her sister Riva trained in filmmaking and acting. The expectation in such households typically points one way.
Ishita went the other.
The NCC years
She studied at Rajdhani College, part of Delhi University, and spent three years as a cadet with the 7 Girls Battalion of the National Cadet Corps, Delhi Directorate. The NCC is a tri-services youth development organisation comprising the Army, Navy and Air Force, open to school and college students on a voluntary basis, where cadets receive basic military training in small arms and drill.
In 2022, she received an Award of Excellence from the Additional Director General of the NCC. The following January, she marched in the Republic Day parade at Kartavya Path with the NCC contingent, having trained through a Delhi winter to reach that moment.
Her father marked it publicly at the time, writing that his daughter had been working hard for three years to serve the nation and was training in bitter cold and fog for the parade.
She has since posted footage from her training, including bruises picked up along the way. She has named retired Indian Army officer Major Nithi CJ as her role model.
Joining as Mahila Agniveer
In June 2023, at 21, Ishita Shukla was selected under the Agnipath scheme as a Mahila Agniveer.
Agnipath, introduced in June 2022, recruits personnel on four-year terms, with approximately 25 per cent retained afterwards for regular service. The scheme aims to recruit around 46,000 Agniveers annually across all three armed forces, with about 40,000 for the Army and the remaining 6,000 for the Navy and Air Force combined.
It sparked widespread protests across multiple states when announced, with demonstrators blocking roads, setting trains on fire, and demanding its rollback. Tens of thousands called for a nationwide shutdown, and several states shut down internet services amid the unrest. The scheme remains debated, though applications have risen significantly. In 2024, 12.8 lakh youth applied, nearly a 10 per cent increase from 11.3 lakh applicants in 2023.
Women Agniveers in the Indian Army are currently recruited primarily into the Corps of Military Police under the General Duty category. As of 2024, a total of 7,856 Agniveers recruited for the Indian Navy have passed out, of which 6,738 are men and 1,118 are women, demonstrating significant female participation in the programme. The first batch of nearly 2,600 naval Agniveers, including 272 women, passed out from INS Chilka in Odisha in November 2022, marking the scheme's operationalisation.
Why the story keeps resurfacing
When the news first emerged, actor Anupam Kher congratulated Ishita publicly, describing her decision as an example for young women considering the forces.
The reaction then, and each time since, has centred on the contrast. Comments have focused on how rarely a politician's child enters the military, and on how many star children follow their parents into film.
She is not entirely without precedent. Captain Dr Shreyashi Nishank, daughter of former Uttarakhand chief minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, joined the Army Medical Corps some years ago.
But in a family where cinema was the obvious route, and with a sister who took it, Ishita Shukla's choice remains the more unusual one. Which is presumably why it has now been rediscovered three times.
