Happy birthday Alia Bhatt: Actress's transformation from a millenial mess to master of her craft

It often happens that when you complete reading a good book or watching a deeply motivating film, there are parts of those scripts that stay with you, and you tend to carry them in your self-developed character. Alia Bhatt was 19 when she made her debut as an actress in Karan Johar's Student of the Year. There was nothing about Shanaya the character from the movie that was extremely different from her real-life back in 2011-2012 when she was shooting for the film. So was she a good actress?

2014 happened and it took her two films, 2 States and Highway to convince the rest of us that she wasn't just another star kid who was only there to enjoy the stardom without any talent as long as it lasted. She has the talent and she will not be backing away from it. 

With the right kind of fame, followed more opportunities for her, and eventually, she got a chance to make her debut on Koffee With Karan and then history happened when she couldn't give the correct answer to one of Karan's rapid-fire questions. It wasn't a light issue either...not knowing the President of India, considering that she had her residence in the country. 

Each time she faced the press, she was taunted by someone from the media fraternity. There were days when she had managed to turn her face and ignore them, then there were other days when she confronted them and decided to give them a piece of her mind. 

Alia Bhatt memes became the next big thing on the internet, and basically her name became an adjective for someone with low IQ. (It seemed partially unfair since Varun Dhawan too had the wrong answer). Although, AIB, (which had garnered a strong number of subscribers back in 2013 before the MeToo movement in India) had released a scripted video titled 'Alia Bhatt: Genius of the Year', some of us weren't completely convinced. After all, Rohan Joshi, one of the founders of AIB was then dating Shaheen Bhatt, (Alia Bhatt's sister), so the effort to fix her image was well understood. 

In 2016, Udta Punjab, Kapoor and Sons, and Dear Zindagi happened and we started witnessing a more mature Alia Bhatt. When Udta Punjab faced issues with the CBFC she made her presence felt in the fight for creative rights. She remained dignified in her presence, and avoided screaming in front of the media. Although her later two films, Kapoor and Sons, Dear Zindagi did not face any massive controversy with any institution, she had by then started evolving as an actress. She knew the mind of a depressed woman, she knew better when it came to handling relationships and it all got reflected when she decided to step outside her residence with a dignified smile pasted on her.

Another soft controversy happened when she joined the bandwagon of star kids who simply refused to accept the existence of nepotism in the Hindi film industry. Unlike Ranbir Kapoor, she was blind about her privileges and it was dismaying to some of her fans, who had started looking up to her. In an interview with Bombay Times, she had said, "I want to punch all those people who say that star kids have it easy because it makes no sense. The way the world is today, either you have it or you don't." What some of us failed to realise was that she was after all a 23-year-old millennial, with lesser experience and exposure about underprivileged life or struggling actors.  

Much later, in 2019, she was able to open her eyes and understand her privileges. She accepted the existence of nepotism and agreed that she might not have been able to make it had it not been for her father, then again, she can't feel sorry for being born in the Bhatt family either. 

Representing the new Bollywood order, she became a star at a time when Kangana Ranaut, Deepika Padukone, Anushka Sharma, Katrina Kaif were dominating the screens along with the strong base of talents such as Vidya Balan, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. In such an amalgamation of talent she managed to shine bright purely based on her series of performances, in Badrinath Ki Dulhania, Raazi and Gully Boy. She had indeed inherited the best of genes from the filmy Bhatt family. 

In her short span of time, she has been trolled, loved and bullied by senior actress Kangana Ranaut and her manager-sister Rangoli, for reasons other than her sudden stardom. If you are still under the impression that she was unable to get the brains of her father Mahesh Bhatt, you should probably take a look at her dignified reply to the media when she was questioned about Rangoli's tweets accusing her of being unsupportive towards Kangana Ranaut. 

She is alert, keen and is aware that her work speaks more than her words. So when Kangana Ranaut won the Padma Shri, instead of wrongly lashing out at her or the government of India she gracefully sent her flowers. 

Alia Bhatt may have been a mess during her initial days as a public figure but eventually, we realised just like any other millennials she too has layers which we are able to unpeel with her public appearances. In December, she may be tying the knot with Ranbir Kapoor and she is probably aware of the animosity which she might develop with some other families and actresses in the industry, but somewhere she seems to relish this challenge more. 

Along with everything, there's Rangoli who has almost made it her part-time job to bully her on social media when she avails the chance to do so. If Ranbir Kapoor is the male epitome of the actor who fails but never falters, Alia Bhatt is the female ambassador mess, silliness and how to counter them with dignity.