Alia Bhatt is riding high on love and the success of her last films such as Raazi and Gully Boy. While audience expectations surmount for Abhishek Varman’s Kalank and comparisons are drawn with Madhuri Dixit, Alia is gearing up for Ayan Mukerji’s Brahmastra and Inshallah with Sanjay
Leela Bhansali.
Rumours of a wedding are running abuzz, especially after photogs captured Alia displaying affection for alleged beau Ranbir Kapoor at a recent award ceremony. When asked about the incident, the actor says, “What I did at the Filmfare awards was in gratitude and honesty, and all of my heart. I never have really spoken about it. I want it to be sacred and simple, and not draw attention. But let me clear the air once and for all. I am not planning to get married now. I don’t want to get married right now. If ever I plan anything I will go on the rooftops and scream that I am getting married. It’s not something I am against. But right now it’s not on my mind as I am busy with my work. Yes, there’s a glint in my eyes now and I am not denying it. I have been in the industry for six years but have always been silent on my personal life. Ranbir is one of the people who I want to thank. He does affect me and in a positive and beautiful way.”
Alia and Ranbir will both be seen in Brahmastra. When asked about her experience on working with Ranbir, she is quick to say, “He’s a complete actor, he’s so honest and his eyes are honest. Brahmastra is a amalgamation of working with such fantastic actors. Ranbir and me, Ranbir and Bachchan Sir, Bachchan Sir and me and Nagarjuna sir. My dad wanted to come and see us performing in one scene on the sets but I refused. So, he went and requested Bachchan Sir, but he too denied him the permission and said, ‘Don’t come as there’s already so much pressure and creativity is so high on the sets.’ Whatever [vibe] you see in Ranbir captured by the camera, it doubles when he is off camera. He comes and unleashes himself in front of the camera.”
On all the awards and appreciations she has been garnering Alia says, “I am very happy and feel a lot of gratitude for all the opportunities I am getting. It’s almost an unreal feeling. I am working back to back on films like RRR, my first movie in the south, and Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Inshallah, and these awards are being given simultaneously. There’s so much happening that I want to go and pray to all gods and say thank you. What is important than all this is the process that goes on the sets and the inspiration to play these characters with honesty. Beyond this I don’t pay attention to what is happening around.
Whether I am successful or not or whether I am number 1 or 2 is not important. I have to be honest with my work and the only way I can reciprocate my love for the audience is by entertaining them apart from saying ‘I love you’ on social media. I can show love only through good films.”
Appreciation and work also mean missing out on family and friends, and sacrificing personal life. But Alia seems to have found a balance. “There are sacrifices but that’s a small deed for what I am getting in life. I have got my own house and am no longer living with my parents. I was a good and disciplined child. I would get up every morning and sit with mom and chat with her for ten minutes about the day. I would have breakfast and go to school. I continued that during my work but now I miss her. So, I make it a point to video-call every day and talk to her so we can see each other. I do miss all that but then there’s so much creative satisfaction. I try to balance a lot in personal and professional life and have to maintain a certain discipline,” she explains.
Kalank is a period film and Alia will be seen in the genre for the first time. To prepare for the role, the 25-year-old “watched a lot of old films like Mughal-e-Azam, Silsila and Umrao Jaan.” She shares that Varman asked her to watch the television show Zindagi Gulzar Hai, whose main character is similar to the role Alia plays. Alia reveals that she “enjoyed the process of dressing up in antique jewellery and ghagras. It was not easy to keep the dupatta on my head for a long time.”
In Kalank, Alia and Madhuri dance together to the song ‘Ghar more pardesiya’. About the sequence Alia says, “I practised for two months with a teacher before shooting for the film.I was totally prepared when I went on the sets. I was so excited and couldn’t sleep that night. Madhuri and I were sitting in the first scene that we shot for and my hands were shaking, and I had to literally hide my hands. There was a technical glitch on the sets that day and the shoot got delayed and I was jittery throughout. But Madhuri is such a calm and positive energy to have around and she looks ethereal as ever. We bonded on Keto diets which we both religiously follow.”
The period drama will be Alia’s fourth film with Varun Dhawan. On their characters, she says, “It’s a different journey for two of us because two characters are different from what we have played before. It’s a period film and the way they talk is way different. It’s a new experience for two of us. We just fit and we don’t know why. I strongly believe that we have a past-life connection. We are friends and it’s not just because that he is an actor for me. There is a humane connection. We enjoy working together. We take a break and then do films together. Every time he meets me he says ‘you have become a big actress’.”
Alia has worked with Varman in 2 States previously. She considers the filmmaker a close friend and sings high praises. “He gets the nuances, entertainment, drama, light moments and everything right. He challenges me as an actor and the good thing is that he knows me better than myself. He knows when I am not being honest. Unless I give him a honest take he makes me do it all over again,” she concludes.