Alia Bhatt (/ˈɑːliːɑː ˈbət/; born 15 March 1993) is an actress and singer of Indian origin and British citizenship, who works in Hindi-language films. One of the highest-paid actresses of India, as of 2019, her accolades include four Filmfare Awards. She has appeared in Forbes India's Celebrity 100 list since 2014 and was featured by Forbes Asia in their 30 Under 30 list of 2017.
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 drama Student of the Year (2012). She went on to establish herself with starring roles in several films produced by Johar's studio Dharma Productions, including the romances 2 States (2014), Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania (2014), and Badrinath Ki Dulhania (2017); and the coming-of-age drama Dear Zindagi (2016). Bhatt won the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress for playing a kidnapping victim in the road drama Highway (2014), and three Best Actress awards at the ceremony for playing a Bihari migrant in the crime drama Udta Punjab (2016), a spy in the thriller Raazi (2018), and the volatile girlfriend of an aspiring rapper in the musical drama Gully Boy (2019).
Additional to acting in films, Bhatt has launched her own line of clothing and handbags as well as the production company Eternal Sunshine, and is the founder of the ecological initiative CoExist.[2] She has sung six of her film songs, including the single "Samjhawan Unplugged" in 2014.[3]
Life and career
Early life and work (1993–2012)
Alia Bhatt was born on 15 March 1993[4][5] in Bombay (present-day Mumbai) into the Bhatt family to Indian film director Mahesh Bhatt and actress Soni Razdan. Her father is of Gujarati descent[6][7] and her mother is of Kashmiri Pandit and German ancestry.[8][9][10][11] She holds British citizenship.[1] She has an elder sister, Shaheen,[12] 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.[13] Bhatt was educated at the Jamnabai Narsee School.[14]
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."[15] 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.[16] Bhatt aspired to be an actress from a young age, and has said that she first realised it while rehearsing for the school choir in kindergarten.[17][18] She soon began dance lessons at Shiamak Davar's institute.[17] 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.[19] Talking about her experience, Bhatt later said, "I don’t remember much of the shoot. I would go to the sets only for the food".[17]
Bhatt had her first leading role in 2012 with Karan Johar's teen film Student of the Year, alongside Sidharth Malhotra and Varun Dhawan.[20] She auditioned alongside 500 girls and was cast after losing 16 kg.[18] She played a sophisticated teenage girl involved in a love triangle. Anupama Chopra of Hindustan Times mentioned similarities between her character Shanaya Singhania and Kareena Kapoor's Pooja "Poo" Sharma in Johar's Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... (2001), but noted that her performance was "without the killer attitude".[21] 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".[22] Student of the Year grossed ₹960 million (US$13 million) at the box office, becoming a commercial success.[23]
Establishing as a leading lady (2014–2018)
Dismayed by the critical response to Student of the Year, Bhatt was keen to play a better role. Following a year-long absence from the screen, similar to that of co-stars Malhotra and Dhawan, she found an opportunity with Imtiaz Ali's road film Highway (2014), in which she starred as a lonely teenage girl who develops stockholm syndrome after being abducted.[17] She took diction lessons to improve her Hindi, and was challenged by the emotional and physical requirements of the part.[24] Ali shot the film sequentially and several scenes were improvised on set based on Bhatt's reactions.[25] 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.[17] 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.[26] The film underperformed at the box office;[27] Bhatt won the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress and also gained a Best Actress nomination at the ceremony.[28] She also appeared in Vikas Bahl's short film on women's safety, entitled Going Home.[29]
Continuing her collaboration with Johar's company, Dharma Productions, Bhatt starred in the romantic films 2 States, fellow-produced by Highway producer Sajid Nadiadwala, and Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania (both 2014). The former was an adaptation of Chetan Bhagat's novel of the same name, and revolves 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 the language with help form a tutor.[30] Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express was appreciate of Bhatt, labelling her a "surprise" and "easy and fresh and natural".[31] She played a Punjabi girl who has an affair before her wedding in Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania, which marked the debut of writer-director Shashank Khaitan in a distinct first for the studio. Starring Dhawan in the titular role of a flirtatious Punjabi boy Rakesh, the film was described as a tribute to Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995) by Johar, and also marked the debut of television actor Siddharth Shukla.[32] 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".[33][34] Both films were commercially successful, each earning over ₹1 billion (US$14 million) worldwide.[23] Accomplishments through 2014 established Bhatt as a successful actress in Bollywood.[35][36][37]
Bhatt reunited with Bahl for the romantic comedy Shaandaar. Released in 2015, the film featured Shahid Kapoor and her as insomniacs who fall in love during a destination wedding.[38] 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".[39] Shaandaar did not perform well commercially.[40] She began 2016 with a supporting role in the ensemble drama Kapoor & Sons, which was a critical and commercial success.[41][42]