Click here to follow Screen Digital on YouTube and stay updated with the latest from the world of cinema.
© IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd
Premium
The many crimes of Alia Bhatt: Smiling, speaking, existing, the Internet has a problem with everything
Alia Bhatt keeps getting trolled, for a BAFTA answer, wiping off lipstick, even for smiling “wrong,”. But while the internet dissects every gesture, the actor seems busy living her best life.
Almost everything Alia Bhatt does ends up under the internet’s microscope. (Photo: Instagram/Alia Bhat)
Alia Bhatt is known for many things. She is an award-winning actor, the entrepreneur behind Ed-a-Mamma, global brand ambassador of Gucci. But apart from these achievements, she seems to have unlocked the rare ability of being trolled relentlessly for almost anything she says, does or occasionally how she smiles while doing it. The actor appears to have become a full-time subject of the internet’s favourite pastime: dissecting celebrity behaviour frame by frame, word by word.
Trolled for trying to remember a monologue from a movie released in 2014
Take the most recent example. Alia attended the BAFTAs and during a red-carpet interaction mentioned Gone Girl while talking about memorable film twists. When the host brought up the film’s famous “cool girl” monologue, Alia paused for a moment, trying to recall it – an expression humans usually make when they haven’t memorised a script from 2014. The internet promptly concluded that she had “never watched the film.”
Because clearly, if you watched a movie a decade ago, you should be able to recall its monologue instantly, under bright lights, on a red carpet, while a camera is inches from your face. No hesitation allowed.
Most people typing those comments must have googled ‘Gone Girl plot’ after watching her answer.
View this post on Instagram
Not the first time for Alia
But this is hardly the first time. In a Vogue India video, Alia mentioned that her husband Ranbir Kapoor prefers her natural lip colour, and often asks her to wipe off her lipstick. She laughed. She shrugged. She moved on.
The internet did not. Within hours, Ranbir was a “red flag.”
The internet wanted her to be outraged on her own behalf. When she wasn’t, they were outraged on her behalf. The irony was that the people most outraged about a man allegedly controlling a woman’s choices were loudly telling that woman what to think about her marriage. People talking about “women’s agency” were telling Alia that she wasn’t allowed to have the agency to… hold it.. wipe off her lipstick.
Story continues below this ad
Alia addressed this on Koffee With Karan, ““I have a very candid way of speaking. So when I talk about anything in my life, I like to imitate the person, give anecdotes, and make it personal. I feel a lot of things get picked out of context, which happened recently with the video. My team told me ‘Ye kuch out of hand jaa raha hai’. I was like, okay theek hai jaane do”.
View this post on Instagram
She continued, “Then I realised that there were serious articles written about how he was a toxic man, and I thought, ‘are we serious?’ There are many issues in the world to give more attention to.”
During Makar Sankranti 2026, Alia Bhatt posted a message urging people to be mindful of birds during kite-flying season, noting that manja, the sharp kite string, often injure or kill them.
She was called “hypocrite” as she represents a leather brand. By that same logic, if you’ve ever eaten a chicken burger, you can’t pet your dog or feel sad if a pigeon hits your window. You should not care about birds unless you have achieved a state of complete and total ethical purity in every consumer choice you have made since birth. The bar to say “please be careful with kite strings” is, apparently, extraordinarily high, for Alia Bhatt.
Story continues below this ad
But who is winning?
Dear trolls, we get it. She’s successful, she’s a “nepo baby,” and she’s everywhere. But honestly? It’s getting a bit repetitive.
Here is where the story takes its most satisfying turn. While the trolls are busy pausing a BAFTA screengrab at the exact second she looks uncertain, Alia is busy living a life most people only see through a filtered lens.
The trolling have had little impact on her. She told Esquire India, “Is my reality changing? No. Is my family dynamic changing? Not at all. Am I living my dream? Yes. Do I go to sleep every day with a grateful heart? One hundred percent.”
Story continues below this ad
Alia Bhatt is a National Award winner, she has a global career, a critically lauded filmography, she walks international red carpets, she has a husband she adores, a baby she is clearly besotted with. She is, by any reasonable metric, doing extremely well. The trolls, meanwhile, have a very high-speed internet connection and a lot of free time to talk about a transparent handbag.
We’ll let you decide who’s actually winning.
Advertisement
Loading Recommendations...
Live Blog