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Although she has worked with director Sanjay Leela Bhansali on the hit film Gangubai Kathiawadi, and is collaborating with him again on the film Love and War, could’ve starred in two more projects that were eventually cancelled. In fact, she was supposed to debut as an actor with Bhansali’s Balika Vadhu when she was just a child, alongside her future husband Ranbir Kapoor. In an interview, her father Mahesh Bhatt said that he had no idea Alia wanted to be an actor, and said that it was a ‘conspiracy’ hatched by her and her mother. He recalled meeting Bhansali at the time, and voicing the concerns that he had.
In an interview with Humans of Bombay, he said, “She never told me that she wanted to act. It was a conspiracy hatched between the mother and the daughter. Her mother was an actor, and they agreed to a film that was supposed to be directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. It was not made for some reason. I remember Sanjay coming to meet me also. I told him, ‘I don’t know why you have come to seek permission from me, as long as it doesn’t interfere with her schooling’. We, as parents, were committed to make sure that the child gets at least a minimum education to be able to survive in this human jungle that we have made.”
He continued, “Movies should be made with passion, and should be created with all the love and sincerity, but I don’t think they are the be all and end all of mankind. I said, ‘I hope that in the quest for this excellence, you don’t squeeze the child to the last drop, because as a parent, I would be concerned about that’. He said, ‘I understand what you’re saying’.” Bhansali is known to be a tough taskmaster, and several actors who’ve worked with him have described his exacting ways. Ranbir has also accused the filmmaker of being physically violent against him when he was an assistant on the film Black. Ranbir vowed never to work with him again, but reversed his decision to do Love and War.
Alia eventually made her debut with Karan Johar’s Student of the Year, alongside fellow newcomers Sidharth Malhotra and Varun Dhawan. All three have forged their individual paths in the film industry, with Alia often being described as one of the most talented star-actors of her generation. Her last film was the box office flop Jigra, and she will next be seen in the YRF action movie Alpha, a part of the studio’s Spy Universe. “She always wanted to be an actress; she never thought of anything else. Even today, after motherhood,” Bhatt concluded.
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