Alia Bhatt is Express Adda's guest today. Bollywood star Alia Bhatt, who made her successful debut in the Hindi film industry with Karan Johar-directed Student of the Year a decade ago, is now one of the country’s foremost stars. Alia has established herself as a leading lady with several acclaimed movies under her belt, including the likes of Raazi, Highway, Gully Boy, Udta Punjab and the very recent Sanjay Leela Bhansali directorial Gangubai Kathiawadi.
A favourite of the critics and the audience alike, Alia Bhatt is making her debut as a producer with the upcoming Netflix feature, Darlings. The movie is being co-produced by superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment.
Alia Bhatt is Express Adda’s chief guest today.
The actor will be seen in a conversation with the Executive Director of The Indian Express, Anant Goenka, and The Indian Express’ film critic Shubhra Gupta.
"It's one of my topmost endevours to back new talent. And if the content pitched is good, then of course we will put our power behind it."
"I didn't have to put on an accent, I am not wearing some ethnic patchwork clothes because I am a chick from India. Everybody wants India, Hollywood wants a part of India."
"I agree that stars' salaries should be balanced out against the budget of the film. But then, I am no one to tell anyone what they should charge, kyunki main toh choti hun."
"I have never felt like I have wanted to run away, and I have been one of those people who has faced random hate, especially online. But beyond a point, you don't care about all that. I am not really affected by it. I mean, it's a free country, anyone can say what they want. So I cannot be like, 'mere ko bura lag raha hai, bura lag raha hai to dessert khao.'"
"What makes a star? It's the love, but there is also a certain kind of star who will bring in the money at the box office. But that cannot happen now without content, ultimately it's the power of the content that is pulling the audience to cinemas. Of course, there is a certain larger than life experience on the big screen which you cannot replace, but the depth of good content standing the test of time is something people should go for, and do go for. So the stardom comes from the content you give to the people."
"Gangubai has been my most challenging role. I knew I had to play her completely from the heart, but I also had to play it from the frontfoot, because we were also trying to make it entertaining. Because we wanted her to reach a larger audience, and that is very hard," said the actor.
"I genuinely don't have any process. I do the basics of learning my lines, and that's the ABC of it, and you need to know that. I like losing myself completely in another person's life. That's the most exciting part for me being an actor. I was always in my head even as a child," said Alia.
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'I love it when people think that I am dumb. I genuinely do, because they make so many memes on me which add to the popularity. But then you are loving my movies, so I am doing something right in the movie business. I may not have the other side of it correctly. I also want to put out this message for young girls, and I dont mean that in an offensive way, but general knowledge and bookish intelligence in my opinion is not intelligence. To survive in a world, you have to have emotional intelligence, which is the highest form of intelligence for me,' said the actor.
"I am not sure I understand that concept of making a 'fun watch.' I don't understand that, so I don't think I will be able to add anything to that," Alia said on making 'fun films.'
"I don't only want to tell women-centric films, that's not what my endeavour is. I just want to tell good stories. Stories that mean something to you, that leave you with some lingering thought," said Alia.
"You can say it is inspired by the movie, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. But there's something about the words eternal and sunshine. Cinema is eternal, and sunshine just brings you warmth and so much happiness, that warm fuzzy feeling in your heart, which is what movies do for me. I just felt it fit," said Alia.
"It was a tough year for Indian cinema in general...we should be kind to Hindi films. South movies performed well, but are we counting the overall number of films that have done well there? I just think a good film will always do well," Alia said on the debate.
"Honestly, I don't remember what happened or how it happened. Maybe I had reached that point, where I am headlining a movie, and am thinking, why not produce it? A part of me is now also wanting to explore new arena in my career. I was instantly surprised by Darlings, and that's how it happened," the actor said.
Alia Bhatt and partner and star Ranbir Kapoor will be seen sharing screen space for the first time in Ayan Mukerji's fantasy-drama Brahmastra. The film releases in September.
“Of course, I am young, but why does that have to change anything? Why does having a family or a child have to change my professional life? They are two completely different things. I would continue to and prefer to lead by example and action as opposed to giving any attention to the nonsensical things,” Alia had said in an interview with PTI.
Bollywood star Alia Bhatt is making her debut as a producer with Netflix feature Darlings. The film is also being bankrolled by Shah Rukh Khan's company Red Chillies Entertainment.
“It was my first Hollywood big English picture experience and I had quite a task at hand because I was shooting for the first time an action movie. But I’m also pregnant so there were so many layers for me to deal with. But they made it so seamless and so easy and so comfortable for me. It’s something that I will never forget because of how beautifully and how well I was treated,” Alia had said recently while speaking with Variety.
Bollywood star Alia Bhatt will be gracing Express Adda as its chief guest today, in Mumbai.