Alia Bhatt shows off her aptitude for acting

At a time when newcomers in Bollywood are well-equipped with media savviness, chiselled looks and extensive training in acting as well as dancing, Alia Bhatt’s candour comes as a breath of fresh air.

She was the toast of 2012, having debuted in Student of the Year. In 2013, she bagged projects with Karan Johar and Imtiaz Ali. Highway, Imtiaz’s next, was set for a December 2013 release but will now open early February.

And the accolades haven’t stopped coming; the support she’s received from people like Karan Johar and Ranbir Kapoor in particular, has been invaluable. But Alia knows only too well how hard she’s had to work for it.

“As a teenager I was laidback. I was also overweight. I had no idea what to do with my life. During much of my teen years, my life revolved around my parents, my friends and desserts,” she says laughing, adding on a serious note, “I had to really struggle and make major changes to my eating habits and lifestyle to fit the bill of the quintessential Karan Johar heroine. Now that I’m in the business, I want to achieve the perfect body.”

Given her lineage, acting seemed like a natural progression, but Alia clarifies there was no pressure to join showbiz. Support from her parents meant that she could make her own choices and work at her own pace to build her career.

“There wasn’t any pressure on me to take up acting from either of my parents. My father never laid down any rules about me making a debut in our production house,” she says, with a hint of pride, typical among children who have close and mature bonds with their parents. On cue, she adds, “I don’t keep secrets from my mother. She is my confidante and my inspiration.”

Despite being just one-film-old, she hasn’t been spared the customary Bollywood link-ups. Laughing it off, she says that she is equally close to Varun Dhawan and Sidharth Malhotra, her co-stars from her debut film, but nothing more.

“I’m aware of the price one has to pay to be an actor. At my age, I have the time to build a solid career and play a long innings.” Far removed from her glamorous role in her first film, Alia will be seen in a more realistic performance in Highway. She says, “The experience has been amazing. I had to create a whole new world that was physically and emotionally challenging. I learnt a lot about filmmaking, about myself and about India too since we have been travelling throughout for the shoot.”

— With inputs from Sanskriti Media and Entertainment