ALL EYES ON ALIA

It is a fact that ALIA BHATT is one of the most extraordinary talents of her generation. But here's the thing: she also has that elusive, golden superstar quality that's not just making her beloved in India, but taking her to the world. Ambika Muttoo checked in to find out how Alia got to this rarefied position, and what's in store

- Ambika Muttoo

Alia Bhatt. Red carpet debut. The Met Gala. Custom Prabal Gurung. Cue screams, especially when she emerged in her custom, pearlescent couture gown. It was a huge moment for her, and, honestly, a huge moment for us too. She's ours. Our Alia. Our superstar. A rare talent that emerges perhaps once a generation. In the decade she's graced our screens, she's given us exceptional performances in films as diverse as Highway, Kapoor & Sons, Raazi, Gully Boy and Gangubai Kathiawadi a short list from her long roster of movies. In approximately a month from the release of this interview, we're also going to see her taking on the role of antagonist in Heart Of Stone, an American spy action thriller film for Netflix, starring alongside Gal Gadot and Jamie Dornan. We already know how good she's going to be, given that, on screen, she inhabits characters, wearing them like a second skin. You can't take your eyes off her. Off screen, she's... Alia.

Whether the conversation is about how she's married to Ranbir Kapoor. About how she's mum to a gorgeous daughter. About how she's Mahesh Bhatt's daughter. It doesn't matter. The common link is that, with Alia, what you see is what you get; she's very much at the centre of her own narrative. She's outspoken, fierce sometimes, funny at other times, super body positive, goofy... She's someone we recognise, distinctly, as her own person. It's one of the reasons we loved her on the Met carpet, or when she attended the Gucci Cruise '24 show at the Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul in her capacity as the newly-minted global house ambassador. The clothes never wear her.