Alia Bhatt

Alia Bhatt

Alia Bhatt

She was born 15 March 1993.She is an Indian actress and singer who appears in Bollywood films. The daughter of filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt and actress Soni Razdan, she made her acting debut with Karan Johar's romantic drama Student of the Year (2012), a box office success. She subsequently garnered praise for her performances in Imtiaz Ali's road movie Highway (2014) and the highly successful romantic drama 2 States (2014). These prime accomplishments have established her as one of the most promising newcomers in Bollywood.




Early life

Bhatt was born on 15 March 1993, to Indian film director Mahesh Bhatt and actress Soni Razdan. Her father is of primarily Gujarati descent and her mother is of Kashmiri-German ancestry.Bhatt has an elder sister, Shaheen (born 1988) 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.



Career

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. She had her first leading role in 2012 with Karan Johar's Student of the Year, alongside Sidharth Malhotra and Varun Dhawan. She portrayed the role of Shanaya, 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." Film critic Anupama Chopra of Hindustan Times also mentioned the similarities with Kapoor's character, but noted that her performance was "without the killer attitude." Student of the Year was a financial success, grossing INR700 million (US$11 million) domestically.

Alia Bhatt

In 2014, Bhatt had three film releases. 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.Rachit Gupta of Filmfare mentioned that She is truly one of the most promising new actors in Hindi films."
Bhatt next featured in Johar and Sajid Nadiadwala's joint production 2 States with 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. 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."Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express added that Bhatt was a "surprise" and was "easy and fresh and natural." The film emerged as a major commercial success,earning over INR1 billion (US$16 million) in domestic ticket sales.Bhatt's final appearance that year 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.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".Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania also proved to be a box office hit.
As of September 2014, Bhatt has commenced filming on Vikas Bahl's Shaandar, a destination wedding film opposite Shahid Kapoor, in which she will play the role of an insomniac.She has also committed to star alongside Ranbir Kapoor in Ayan Mukerji's untitled project, a fantasy film about a man with superpowers.