About Alia Bhatt

About Alia Bhatt

Born	15 March 1993 (age 23)
Nationality	British[1]
Occupation	Actress, singer
Years active	2012–present
Parent(s)	Mahesh Bhatt Soni Razdan
Relatives	See Bhatt family

Alia Bhatt (born 15 March 1993) is a British actress who appears in Bollywood films.[2] The daughter of filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt and actress Soni Razdan, Bhatt first appeared on screen as a child artist in a minor role in the thriller Sangharsh (1999). As an adult, she made her acting debut alongside Sidharth Malhotra and Varun Dhawan in Karan Johar's romantic drama Student of the Year (2012).

Bhatt's portrayal of a teenage girl who develops stockholm syndrome in Imtiaz Ali's road movie Highway (2014) won her praise. She won the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress and also received a Best Actress nomination at the same ceremony. She went on to establish herself in Bollywood by starring in the romantic drama 2 States (2014), the romantic comedy Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania(2014), and the drama Kapoor & Sons (2016), all of which earned over ₹1 billion (US$15 million) worldwide. Also in 2016, Bhatt received critical acclaim for playing a poverty-stricken migrant in the crime drama Udta Punjab.

In addition to acting in films, Bhatt has sung three of her film songs. She participates in stage shows, and has launched her own line of clothing for women.

Life and career

Early life and film debut

Alia Bhatt with Sidharth Malhotra(left) and Varun Dhawan (right) promoting Student of the Year in 2012

Bhatt was born on 15 March 1993,[3][4] to Indian film director Mahesh Bhatt and actress Soni Razdan. Her father is of Gujarati descent[5][6]and her mother is of Kashmiri and German ancestry.[7][8][9] Bhatt has an elder sister, Shaheen (born 1988)[10] and two half-siblings, Pooja Bhatt and Rahul Bhatt. Actor Emraan Hashmi and director Mohit Suri are her paternal cousins, while producer Mukesh Bhatt is her uncle.[11]Bhatt was educated at the Jamnabai Narsee School in Mumbai.[12]

Bhatt's first acting role was as a child artist in Sangharsh (1999), starring Akshay Kumar and Preity Zinta where she played the younger version of Zinta's character.[13] She had her first leading role in 2012 with Karan Johar's Student of the Year, alongside Sidharth Malhotraand Varun Dhawan.[14] She portrayed the role of Shanaya Singhania, a sophisticated teenage girl who is in a relationship with Dhawan's character but is attracted to the character played by Malhotra. Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama wrote of her performance, "Alia's role is reminiscent of Kareena Kapoor in Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham. Stylish, classy, born with a silver spoon, she's someone who loves to flaunt not just her clothes and bags, but also her riches. Extremely photogenic, Alia makes a super-confident debut."[15] Anupama Chopraof Hindustan Times also mentioned the similarities with Kapoor's character, but noted that her performance was "without the killer attitude."[16] Student of the Year grossed₹960 million (US$14 million) at the box office.[17]

Rise to prominence (2014–15)

Bhatt established herself in Bollywood with her three film releases of 2014.[18][19] She played the protagonist of Imtiaz Ali's road film Highway opposite Randeep Hooda. Her portrayal of a lonely teenage girl who develops stockholm syndrome after being abducted was acclaimed by the critics.[20] Rachit Gupta of Filmfare mentioned that "[a]t 20, it’s surprising how Alia has got so many deft nuances right. It’s as if the actor has grown with the character. She is truly one of the most promising new actors in Hindi films."[21] Sonia Chopra of Sify added that Bhatt is "[c]ompletely immersed" in her role, and that "Alia’s uninhibited and raw performance will have you emotionally invested in her character all through."[22] Though the film underperformed at the box office,[23] Bhatt won the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress and also garnered a Best Actress nomination at the ceremony.[24][25]

Bhatt at an event forHighway in 2014. She won theFilmfare Critics Award for Best Actress for the film

In Karan Johar and Sajid Nadiadwala's joint production 2 States, Bhatt starred opposite Arjun Kapoor. An adaptation of Chetan Bhagat's novel of the same name, it narrates the story of two IIM Ahmedabad students who encounter trouble in convincing their parents to approve of their relationship. For her role as Ananya Swaminatham, a headstrong Tamil girl, she learnt the language.[26] Critics were appreciative of her performance with Rediff.com publishing that Bhatt "really grows into the character and makes you believe that she's a career-oriented IIM-A grad."[27] Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express added that Bhatt was a "surprise" and was "easy and fresh and natural."[28] The film emerged as a top-grossing production, earning over ₹1.7 billion (US$25 million) worldwide.[17]

Bhatt's final film role in 2014 was as Kavya Pratap Singh, a Punjabi girl who engages in a romantic affair with a stranger a few days prior to her wedding, in the romantic comedy Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania. Co-starring Varun Dhawan and Siddharth Shukla, the film was described as a tribute to Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995) by Johar, who served as producer.[29] 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 performance to be lacking in subtlety, writing that she was "more comfortable acting out her feelings through dialogue and actions".[30][31] Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania proved to be her second consecutive release to earn over ₹1 billion (US$15 million).[17] Her accomplishments in 2014 led Box Office India to label her as the top Bollywood actress of the year.[32]

Also in 2014, Bhatt appeared in a short film on women's safety, entitled Going Home, from director Vikas Bahl.[33] She next reunited with Bahl to film the romantic comedy Shaandaar. Released in 2015, the film featured Shahid Kapoor and Bhatt as two insomniacs who fall in love during adestination wedding.[34] 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".[35] Shaandaar earned little at the box office.[36]

2016 onward

In 2016, Bhatt played the supporting role of a lively young girl with a buried past in Kapoor & Sons, a drama about a dysfunctional family starring Sidharth Malhotra and Fawad Khan. The film proved to be a critical and commercial success.[37][38] Bhatt then took on the part of a poverty-stricken Bihari migrant in the Indian state of Punjab in Udta Punjab(2016), a crime drama about substance abuse from the director Abhishek Chaubey. The intense role marked a significant departure from the mostly light-hearted parts she had previously played, and in preparation, she watched documentaries on drug abuse and learned to speak a Bihari dialect.[39] The film, co-starring Shahid Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor, and Diljit Dosanjh, generated controversy when the Central Board of Film Certification deemed that the film represented Punjab in a negative light and demanded extensive censorship before its theatrical release.[40] The Bombay High Court later cleared the film for exhibition with one scene cut.[41] Bhatt's performance in the film was critically acclaimed, with several commentators believing that it was her best performance to that point.[42] Raja Sen of Rediff.com wrote that Bhatt "commits to her accent and deals with the film's most unsavoury section, and is stunning during an incendiary speech that elevates the entire film to a whole other level."[43]

As of June 2016, Bhatt has four upcoming projects. She has completed filming for Gauri Shinde's drama Dear Zindagi, in which she plays the lead role opposite Shah Rukh Khan.[44][45] She is filming opposite Varun Dhawan for the romantic comedy Badrinath Ki Dulhania, which will serve as the second installment of a franchise that began with Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania.[46] In addition, she has committed to star with Ranbir Kapoor in Ayan Mukerji's untitled fantasy film about a man with superpowers,[47] and to Mohit Suri's romantic drama Aashiqui 3 with Sidharth Malhotra.[48]

Other work

Bhatt at an event forGarnier in 2015

In addition to acting in films, Bhatt has performed at the Filmfare, Screen and Stardust award ceremonies, and has also participated in a stage show inHong Kong alongside Varun Dhawan and Siddharth Malhotra.[49] In 2013, she performed at a charity event with Dhawan, Malhotra, Aditya Roy Kapur,Shraddha Kapoor and Huma Qureshi to raise funds for the flood-affected victims of Uttarakhand.[50] She also took part in a campaign for PETA to raise awareness about homeless animals.[51]

Bhatt has performed playback singing for the song "Sooha Saaha" in Highway (2014). A. R. Rahman, the composer of the film, invited her to his music school to undergo training.[52] Also in 2014, she sang the unplugged version of the song "Samjhawan", for the composers Sharib-Toshi, in Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania.[53] In 2016, she sung an alternate version of the song "Ikk Kudi", for the soundtrack of Udta Punjab, with her co-star Dosanjh.[54]

In 2014, Bhatt launched her own line of clothing for women, in association with the online fashion portal Jabong.com; she described the collection to be "very simple" and "very me".[55] She is also the celebrity endorser for a number of brands and products, including Coca-Cola, Garnier andMaybelline.[56][57]

Filmography

Key

Denotes films that have not yet been released

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1999	Sangharsh	Young Preet Oberoi	Special appearance
2012	Student of the Year	Shanaya Singhania
2014	Highway	Veera Tripathi	Also playback singer for song "Sooha Saha"
2014	2 States	Ananya Swaminathan
2014	Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania	Kavya Pratap Singh	Also playback singer for song "Samjhawan Unplugged"
2014	Going Home		Short film
2014	Ugly	Young Shalini	Cameo appearance[58]
2015	Shaandaar	Alia Arora
2016	Kapoor & Sons	Tia Malik
2016	Udta Punjab	Mary Jane	Also playback singer for song "Ikk Kudi (Club Mix)"
2016	Dear Zindagi	TBA	Post-production
2017	Badrinath Ki Dulhania	TBA	Filming[46][59]

Awards and nominations

Bhatt at the 2014 BIG Star Entertainment Awards

Year	Film	Award	Category	Result
2013	Student of the Year	Lions Gold Awards	Favourite Debut (Female)	Won[60]
		Screen Awards	Most Promising Newcomer – Female	Nominated[61]
		Zee Cine Awards	Best Female Debut	Nominated[62]
		Filmfare Awards	Best Female Debut	Nominated[63]
		Stardust Awards	Superstar of Tomorrow – Female	Nominated[64]
		Star Guild Awards	Best Female Debut	Nominated[65]
		Times of India Film Awards	Female Debut	Nominated[66]
2014	Highway	Stardust Awards	Superstar of Tomorrow – Female	Won[67]
			Best Actress	Nominated[68]
			Best Actress – Drama	Nominated[68]
		BIG Star Entertainment Awards	Most Entertaining Actor in a Social – Drama Film – Female	Nominated[69]
	2 States	BIG Star Entertainment Awards	Most Entertaining Actor (Film) – Female	Nominated[69]
			Most Entertaining Jodi of the Year (shared with Arjun Kapoor)	Won[70]
			Most Entertaining Actor in a Romantic Film – Female	Won[69]
	Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania	Stardust Awards	Best Actress – Comedy/Romance	Won[68]
		BIG Star Entertainment Awards	Most Entertaining Actor in a Romantic Film – Female	Nominated[69]
	N/A		Star Plus Entertainer of the Year (shared with Sidharth Malhotra)	Won[70]
2015	Highway	Star Guild Awards	Best Actress in a Leading Role	Nominated[71]
	2 States			Nominated[71]
		Screen Awards	Best Actress (Popular Choice) (also for Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania)	Nominated[72]
	Highway		Best Actress	Nominated[73]
		Filmfare Awards	Filmfare Award for Best Actress	Nominated [25]
			Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress	Waon [24]
	2 States	IIFA Awards	Best Actress	Nominated[74]

Other honours

2013: The Times of India's Most Desirable Woman of 2012 #19[75]

2013: The Times of India's Hotlist 2012 Most Promising Female Newcomer: #1[76]

2015: GR8! Women Awards: Contribution to cinema[77]