In just three years of her filmy career, Alia Bhatt has made a mark in Bollywood. With a critically acclaimed movie like "Highway" in her pocket, Alia is one of the most successful newcomers in the industry.
She made her debut as a leading actress in 2012 with Karan Johar's "Student Of The Year" and last year she had three back-to-back films -- "Highway", "2 States" and "Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania."
And this year she is back on the silver screen with "Shaandaar", which is set to be released on 22 October. Alia spoke to IBTimes India about her role in "Shaandaar" and how she manages to take time out of her busy schedule for her family and friends.
Here are excerpts from the interview --
Tell us about your "Shaandaar" co-star Shahid Kapoor.
Shahid is the senior most actor I have worked with till now. He is fantastic as an actor and I have learnt a lot from him during the shooting of "Shaandaar". He is very hard working and he never says no to anything. In fact, he is the most enthusiastic on the sets; every time there is a difficult scene, he comes up with an idea and motivates us to do the work. So yes, he is a fabulous actor
How was it working with Pankaj Kapoor in the movie?
When you have a phenomenal actor like Pankaj Kapoor in your vicinity as your co-actor, then it becomes a cherry on the cake working with Shahid and Pankaj Kapoor, who has even more experience. And watching both of them together was very entertaining actually. Because they have a very feisty, answering back and playful kind of relationship, so to see a father and son on the sets was actually quite cute.
And Pankaj sir is great and we had a great time working together. He is so responsive as an actor that when I would do scenes with him I would feel like my performances was getting better.
"Shaandaar" has three members of the same family -- Sanah, Pankaj Kapoor and Shahid -- so did you sometimes feel left out on the sets?
Not at all. In fact, Shahid must have felt more left out. I have more scenes with Pankaj sir, and Sanah because they were my family, so I would end up spending way more time with them than Shahid and they would spend more time with me.
Shahid was judging dance reality show "Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa 8" and you too attended the finale. So if you have to pick between Shahid as a judge or an actor what would you choose?
I would choose Shahid Kapoor the person.
Shahid in "Shaandaar" or in "Udta Punjab"?
They are two very different films, so I would never choose because "Udta Punjab" is north then "Shaandaar" is south.
Upcoming directors you would like to work with.
I want to work with everybody. I really don't want to limit my things by saying that I want to work with these director because I have aspirations to work with all of them. Zoya Akhtar and Rajkumar Hirani are the directors I would like to work with because I love their work, but it is not like that I have caged my mind that I have to work with only these directors. I am open to working with all the directors.
Tell us about your idea of a destination wedding and if you were to have one what would your ideal location be?
I think Greece is a beautiful location, which I have never been to, so if, hypothetically I were to then maybe I will go to Greece.
You are doing back-to-back films and endorsements; but still you seem to spend a lot of time with your best friend Akansha Ranjan and sister Shaheen; how do you manage that?
Since Shaheen is my sister, it becomes very, very important for me to spend time with her. In fact, she keeps complaining because she thinks I don't spend enough time with her because my schedule is very hectic. So whenever I do have time, even if it's just for a few hours or like one day I try to use that time effectively to spend more time with my friends and family, because I don't want to lose touch with them.
Any plans of working with your father (Mahesh Bhatt)?
Of course, we plan on working together, but how it happens when it happens; it is all dependent whether we get that one script we really believe in.
You worked your mother (Soni Razdan) in an ad; how was the experience?
Oh, it was amazing! I kind of figured on set that I and my mother are exactly the same as actors, because she feels the same thing, she is very professional, she doesn't get hyper and she is very chilled out. She knows exactly when she has not given a good shot, so she will say that she has not done a good job and will shoot the scene again. So yes, it was very nice working with her and an experience I will really cherish.
