Alia Bhatt auditioned for Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Black at the age of 9: ‘He saw that fire in my eyes’

In a video, which is going viral on the social media platforms, Bhatt called Bhansali her biggest inspiration and revealed that she had auditioned for his 2005 directorial Black.

“My biggest inspiration before I began the film and through my film was my director sitting right here. I wanted to be directed by him ever since I was 9-years-old. That’s when I first walked into his house to audition for another film he was making at that time. I auditioned for Black, and I was terrible, which is why I did not get the part. But he looked at me, and he narrates that story even now, he looked into my eyes and said to himself that ‘she is going to be a heroine, a big actor someday,'” Alia Bhatt said, adding that the filmmaker saw “fire in my eyes when I was 9.”

“I remember very clearly from that time onwards, my one point focus became one day I have to be directed by him,” she concluded.

Earlier this month, Alia Bhatt spoke to indianexpress.com about how Gangubai Kathiawadi is meant to be watched on the big screen.

“I believe that it is that kind of film that should only be viewed in theatres. Everybody is aware of Sanjay sir’s films and cinematography. The way he puts him films together on celluloid, they are a visual spectacle. Gangubai is also the kind of film where you need to get involved and experience it, as opposed to pause it and do something and come back. That feeling of watching a film together with strangers in a theatre is a magical experience,” she said.

Gangubai Kathiawadi is set to release on February 25. It had its first screening at the Berlin Film Festival’s Berlinale Special Gala section.