Dear Zindagi’s Shah Rukh Khan and Alia Bhatt get under the skin. By Ankita Jain
It’s not easy being a star in your early 20s. It’s not something everyone can handle. It’s really not an age thing; it has more to do with one’s personality or perhaps genes. Which is why Mahesh Bhatt’s daughter Alia Bhatt comes across as a grounded person. She is at a stage in her career where every actor wants to work with her, brands are chasing her to endorse their products as she has a huge connect with the youth and most filmmakers are impressed with her range of acting. Above all she is versatile; from a film with Randeep Hooda to Shah Rukh Khan, she has it all.
“I want to do both off-beat and on-beat movies. My dad (Mahesh Bhatt) told me that before going out of the box, first identify the box. I have been lucky to have been offered roles from mainstream to arthouse. Since childhood, I have seen actors like Govinda and Karishma Kapoor dancing in the middle of the road. Even I am willing to do that kind of cinema though Kaira of Dear Zindagi is my most relatable character,” said Alia who started her career with Student of the Year four years ago. In her latest outing, she plays a fragile angst- ridden girl who finds solace in a humane bond with a life coach played by Shah Rukh Khan.
There’s something about Shah Rukh which attracts people towards him. The moment he entered in his signature black jacket for an interaction with the media, he indulged himself connecting with us. “How’s it going peopleIJ What’s new in townIJ” This was how we caught both Alia and Shah Rukh for a candid conversation.
Alia is one of those actors who uses her gut feelings to choose films. So far, her instinct seems to have worked very well, except for Shaandaar last year. When asked what went wrong with that one film, she explained, “I still feel the film I chose would have been fabulous. It didn’t pan out like that and a lot of things changed. Had those changes not happened, things would have been different. But I have no regrets, which is why whenever I go with my instinct, there’s always a satisfaction.”
Adding to her, Shah Rukh giggled, “The new generation works in fast forward mode. They don’t think much and question a lot.” Dear Zindagi is a film about a young girl and her interactions with her therapist, an unusual subject for Bollywood. “First of all, I wouldn’t use the word ‘therapy’. Not because it doesn’t exist, but because it makes it seem a little serious. This is more of a person who is a friend, philosopher and guide who also has an impact in an unexpected way. Also, it is a very relatable story. I don’t look at pointers when I choose films. There are no tick marks. It is just a feeling at the end of hearing the film. There are high degrees, and then of course I say yes. If it’s a lower degree, then maybe, but if it’s below a certain level, then I don’t do the film. There are certain markers,” said Alia of her crafting strategies.
Shah Rukh’s cameo in Dear Zindagi seems different from his recent fare. His stardom does not seep into his character of Jahangir Khan aka Jug, a mentor to Alia’s character, Kaira. He lets her have the spotlight, choosing to stay on the sidelines and guide her. like the much-appreciated Chak De! India, there is no romance between him and the female protagonist(s). Perhaps he needed a director like Gauri Shinde to make the star in him take a backseat and the actor in him come out. “I don’t choose a film keeping in mind what it has to offer to me. I do films which I find I should. I am also waiting for that period when the trend of a two-and-a-half hour movie will be out and the audience would opt for short feature films,” he said.
Talking about Gauri Shinde, he elaborated, “I come from English theatre. I was very elitist about acting in Hindi films. When I started doing Hindi films, I looked down upon certain things. But Gauri is very intellectual, she keeps character the priority and not the star. My part is short but then it is what is required. I have played the role of mentor in Chak De! India as well. The only difference is in Chak De I was tough and rude at times but in Dear Zindagi I am gentle.”
About commitment and breakups, he added, “Breakups were common earlier as well but people were not open about them. They were a personal affair then. But due to the presence of social media now, people share their problems.”
When we asked Alia about how she deals with breakups, she gushed, “I didn’t have many breakups. But whenever it did, I preferred talking to my friends, going on a vacation and tried distracting myself completely.”
“My first scene with Shahrukh was the kabaddi scene. And because of his busy schedule, we used to rehearse late night and I believe, I look good when I sleep less. So, in the film if you feel I look better in any of the scenes with him, then trust me the credit goes to him,” chuckled Alia. She further added, “Shah Rukh is always open to opinions. Rather you don’t need to ask him for any help, he will always be by your side. He will make sure you are comfortable.”
Having started working early in life, does she worry about burnout, “I try not to think about so many things. People think about it, they worry about it and they plant ideas in my head. I feel the more I think about me, my future and all that, it takes the fun out of life. I only think about the choices I want to make and act responsibly, not say or do stupid things — like break the law or get caught doing stupid things.”
Shah Rukh, who himself has been a mass communication student, concluded by giving some tips to media persons: “I believe being original and sticking to one’s point is the most important thing. You may not be able to gather attention soon but slowly you will manage some and it will go on.”