Who is Alia Bhatt?

Alia Bhatt

Alia Bhatt  born 15 March 1993 is a British actress of Indian descent who predominantly works in Hindi films. She has received several accolades including four Filmfare Awards. One of India's highest paid actresses. She has appeared in Forbes India's Celebrity 100 list since 2014 and was awarded the TIME100 Impact Award in 2022.

Born into the Bhatt family she is the daughter of filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt and actress Soni Razdan. After making her acting debut as a child in the 1999 thriller Sangharsh she played her first leading role in Karan Johar's teen film Student of the Year 2012. She won the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress for playing a kidnapping victim in the road drama Highway 2014 and went on to establish herself with starring roles in several romantic films produced by Johar's studio Dharma Productions as well as the coming of age drama Dear Zindagi 2016.

Bhatt won three Filmfare Awards for Best Actress for playing a victim of drug abuse in the crime drama Udta Punjab 2016 an undercover spy in the thriller Raazi 2018 and a possessive girlfriend in the musical drama Gully Boy 2019. Following two poorly received films she gained praise for playing the titular role in the biopic Gangubai Kathiawadi had a brief role in the period film RRR and starred in the fantasy film Brahmastra: Part One  Shiva all of which rank among the top grossing Indian films of 2022.

In addition to acting, Bhatt has launched her own sustainable clothing brand and an ecological initiative. She supports various charities, and is an investor and prominent brand endorser. She has sung seven of her film songs, including the single "Samjhawan Unplugged" in 2014. Bhatt is married to the actor Ranbir Kapoor, with whom she has a daughter.

Early life and background

Alia Bhatt was born on 15 March 1993 into the Bhatt family to Indian film director Mahesh Bhatt and actress Soni Razdan. Her father is of Gujarati descent and her mother is of Kashmiri Pandit and British German ancestry. She holds British citizenship. She has an elder sister Shaheen and two half siblings Pooja and Rahul Bhatt. Actor Emraan Hashmi and director Mohit Suri are her paternal cousins, while producer Mukesh Bhatt is her uncle. Bhatt was educated at the Jamnabai Narsee School but dropped out of her twelfth grade to pursue acting.

Describing her childhood Bhatt has said. I had a rather grounded and modest upbringing. I didn't get the pleasures that people assume I would've got because I am Mahesh Bhatt's daughter. Growing up she did not share a close bond with her father Razdan has said that she raised her children mostly as a single parent as her husband did not take much interest in their lives. Bhatt has said that as a child, she didn't miss him as such because I did not really have him adding that they developed a closer bond only when she became an actress.

Bhatt aspired to act from a young age, and has said that she first realised it while rehearsing for the school choir in kindergarten. She soon began dance lessons at Shiamak Davar's institute. Her first acting role was at age five in her father's production venture Sangharsh 1999 in which she briefly played the younger version of Preity Zinta's character. Talking about her experience Bhatt later remarked. I don't remember much of the shoot. I would go to the sets only for the food. At age nine she auditioned for a role in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's film Black 2005, but did not get the part. Three years later Bhansali had cast a 12 year old Bhatt opposite a 20 year old Ranbir Kapoor to make their debuts in his film Balika Vadhu but the film was shelved.

Career

Bhatt had her first leading role in 2012 with Karan Johar's teen film Student of the Year alongside newcomers Sidharth Malhotra and Varun Dhawan. She auditioned alongside 500 girls and was cast after losing 16 kg. She played a sophisticated teenage girl involved in a love triangle. Anupama Chopra of Hindustan Times mentioned similarities between her character and Kareena Kapoor's role in Johar's Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... 2001, but noted that her performance was without the killer attitude. Lisa Tsering of The Hollywood Reporter dismissed her as a washout. Not only is she inelegant in the dance numbers but her expressions are limited and the digital retouching of her face throughout the film is a distraction. Student of the Year grossed ₹960 million US$12 million at the box office, becoming a commercial success.

Dismayed by the critical response to Student of the Year Bhatt was keen to play a better role. She found it in Imtiaz Ali's road film Highway 2014 in which she starred as a lonely teenage girl who develops Stockholm syndrome after being abducted. She took diction lessons to improve her Hindi and was challenged by the emotional and physical requirements of the part. Ali shot the film sequentially and several scenes were improvised on set based on Bhatt's reactions.She has said that several aspects of her character's journey mirrored her own as it was the first time she experienced situations that were different from her own privileged upbringing. Ronnie Scheib of Variety took note of her endearingly cockeyed perf and commended her for bringing an underlying sadness and wistful intelligence to her part. The film underperformed at the box office though Bhatt won the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress and also gained a Best Actress nomination at the ceremony. She next appeared in Vikas Bahl's short film on women's safety entitled Going Home.

Continuing her collaboration with Johar's company, Dharma Productions, Bhatt starred in the romantic films 2 States and Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania both 2014. The former was an adaptation of Chetan Bhagat's novel of the same name and is about two management students who have trouble convincing their parents of their relationship. For her role as a headstrong Tamil girl. She learnt to speak her lines in Tamil with help from a tutor. Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express was appreciative of Bhatt labelling her a surprise and easy and fresh and natural. She played the titular Punjabi girl who has an affair before her wedding with a flirtatious Punjabi boy Rakesh in Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania directed by Shashank Khaitan. Which was described as a tribute to Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge 1995 by Johar. Writing for India Today Rohit Khilnani thought that Bhatt had pitched in one of her best performances so far though Nandini Ramnath of Mint found her lacking in subtlety, writing that she was more comfortable acting out her feelings through dialogue and actions. Both films were commercially successful, each earning over ₹1 billion US$13 million worldwide. Her accomplishments in 2014 established her career.

Bhatt reunited with Bahl for the romantic comedy Shaandaar. Released in 2015 the film features Shahid Kapoor and Bhatt as insomniacs who fall in love during a destination wedding. Kunal Guha of Mumbai Mirror criticised the film and wrote that Bhatt socks life into her character but fails to pump any into this film. Shaandaar did not perform well commercially.