“Companies around the world need my country India, not me” Alia Bhatt said at Red Sea International Film Festival

While interacting with the audience at the third Red Sea International Film Festival organized in Jeddah city of Saudi Arabia, famous Hindi cinema actress Alia Bhatt (age 30 years) said that the companies around the world do not need me, they need my country India. That’s why they make Indian film artists their brand ambassadors. I am also one of them. She said that I do not need to go out of India to be global. Alia Bhatt said this on the question of appointing the first brand ambassador from India by the world-famous fashion house Gucci (Italy). She said that today the whole world needs India, and that is why they chose me. I give the credit for this to my country India. It’s just a matter of changing perspective. Now the attitude of the whole world towards India is changing. Remember that Alia Bhatt, born on 15 March 1993 in Mumbai, is a British citizen but lives in Mumbai and also has her own house in London.

While talking to Kaleem Aftab, Head of International Programming of Red Sea International Film Festival, when asked if you are a good actress and your work is going well, working in films earns you about 7.4 million dollars (Rs 60 crores) annually. Alia Bhatt said that I don’t know how long my acting career will last or how long I will be accepted as an actress, so I thought of doing some permanent type of work. I created my brand of clothes named ‘Ida Mamma’. Now Reliance Retail has become its partner by purchasing 51 percent shares of this company. By July 2023, the total net worth of this company had reached $19 million. When there was a need to open his own film production company, she said that my father Mahesh Bhatt would say for how long will you put petrol in other people’s cars, buy your car and put petrol in it. So he opened his own film production company named Eternal Sun Shine Production. Last year, she made her first film for OTT, ‘Darling’. Jasmeet brought a script and liked it. Under the banner of this company, the film ‘Jigra’ will be released next year under the direction of Vasan Bala along with Karan Johar’s Dharma Production. After that, I am doing another film about which I cannot tell anything yet.

On the changes coming in Indian cinema, he said that in every era there has been something to be proud of in our cinema. Today we need to give a new identity to our cinema. Now instead of calling it just Bollywood, we should call it Indian cinema which includes cinema of 27 languages. While narrating the incident of meeting Ranbir Kapoor for the first time, Alia Bhatt said that when I was nine years old (2002), I had gone to meet Sanjay Leela Bhansali in his office. In those days, he was making his film ‘Black’ and Ranbir Kapoor was assisting him. At that time, Ranbir had not become an actor, so all my attention was towards Sanjay Leela Bhansali. But there was something in Ranbir Kapoor that I was attracted to him. I also got a photo clicked with him that day which is safe with me till today. Then we started meeting continuously and finally, after twenty years we got married on 14 April 2022 and now we also have a daughter (6 November 2022).

Remember that last year, while interacting with the audience at the Red Sea International Film Festival, Ranbir Kapoor talked in detail about the upbringing of his daughter and his relationship with his wife Alia Bhatt. Alia said that she auditioned that day but did not get the role. Later, three years later, when she was twelve years old, Sanjay Leela Bhansali cast her with Ranbir Kapoor for the film ‘Balika Vadhu’, yet Nothing happened. Fifteen to sixteen years later, he cast me in the lead role in ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi’.

On the question of how she feels when London’s famous newspaper ‘The Guardian’ includes him in the list of ‘The Best Big Screen Presence of All Time’ (23 September 2022) and from Time Magazine to The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, International media outlets like Screen International, New York Times and Forbes India publish articles praising her acting or how does she feel when she gets the Filmfare Award five times and the National Award for ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi’? She says that then I wonder whether it is really me or is there someone else about whom all this has been published or who has received so many awards. I am filled with gratitude towards them. Here I want to say that just because I get awards, it does not mean that other actors are inferior to me. That is why I never overestimate myself because I still have a long way to go and do better work. When the audience likes my work, that is the biggest award for me. My father (Mahesh Bhatt) gives me vision in these matters. The biggest influence on me in this world is my father. He has given me so much wisdom that I cannot explain. I like it when I get fame but in this case my role model is Shahrukh Khan. I want to be big-hearted like him. They are very big and only know how to give. They don’t make you feel small.
Alia Bhatt shares memories of shooting with Shahrukh Khan in Gauri Shinde’s film ‘Dear Zindagi’. She said that when the first shot was to be given, I had just come out of the bath and my hair was wet. When I told my confusion to  Shahrukh, he immediately said, ‘No problem, I will also get my hair wet, and then let’s shoot. He is so generous and makes the actor comfortable. I still have miles to travel to reach his height. So what happened was that I froze in the very first shot with him. Gauri Shinde had to come and whisper in my ear that I should do action.

Karan Johar and his company Dharma Production gave a lot of opportunities to Alia Bhatt. Her first film with a lead role was ‘Student of the Year’ (2012) of Dharma Productions. About five hundred girls had auditioned for this role. Alia says that when I was studying in eleventh class, I had gone to meet Karan Johar in his office in school dress. But he gave me the role only when I stood first in the audition. A few days ago, at the same Red Sea International Film Festival, Karan Johar had said that he took Alia Bhatt for the lead role in his superhit film ‘Raaki Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani’ (2023) because her audition was the best, regardless of this. Which family does she come from?

Recalling her experiences in ‘Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani’, Alia Bhatt said that I wanted something different from serious type of roles. I wanted to sing and dance openly. When Karan Johar said that I was completely similar to Rani’s character, my happiness knew no bounds. The biggest thing is that I had a wonderful and lovely actor like Ranveer Singh in front of me. I just kept responding to them and the film was made. There was no need to act separately.

Regarding Imtiaz Ali’s film ‘Highway’ (2014), she said that it was a character which was completely different from who I am in real life. I had to play the character of a girl who has grown up in an over-protected environment of a rich and influential family. She falls in love with her kidnapper. This is called Stockholm Syndrome. I had to travel a lot, adjust to the natural location. To be honest, I fell in love with mountains and clouds during the shooting of this film. I felt like settling in the mountains. Similarly, the role I had to play in ‘Udta Punjab’ was completely different from me. I tried to capture the sounds of the environment of the film. The film ‘RRR’ was successful all over the world but I had a very small role in it. Still, when it received the Oscar Award, I was proud like every Indian.

He said that from the day Meghna Gulzar gave him the script of her film ‘Raazi’ to read, I started loving that story. All I did was rely on my blueprint rather than prior information. It was a character that was not me at all. Remember the scene when Raji kills a human being for the first time? While doing that scene when she comes home and takes a bath in the bathroom, I felt as if I had killed someone.

About your character Safina in Zoya Akhtar’s film ‘Gully Boy’, she said that it felt as if the goon inside me had come out. In one scene, Safina says, ‘You are my boyfriend, no one can touch you.’ Sharing her experiences of playing the lead role in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s film ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi’, Alia Bhatt said when I read its script, There was hesitation in my mind when I read it for the first time. I had not imagined such a role. I had been dreaming of working with Sanjay Leela Bhansali since I was nine years old. Their sets are very grand and everything is larger than life. I told Ranbir (Kapoor) that either all this will work or it will not. I accepted the challenge and got the job done. Gradually Gangubai started becoming my alter ego. Even today I cannot forget him. On the request of the audience, he recited the dialogues of this film – “Izzat se jeene ka, kisi se nahi darne ka….”