2016- Alia Bhatt's Best Year Ever

So far this year, the 23-year-old actor has already struck two things off her lifetime bucket list: buy a home and act with Shah Rukh Khan. Next up: learning to cook authentic Italian dishes. 

- Sandipan Dalal

If you thought Alia Bhatt’s life is picture perfect, she will tell you a different story. We caught up with the actor, on day one of the promotions of her latest film, Dear Zindagi, with co-star Shah Rukh Khan. She is juggling film promotions and packing to move into her new home, which is a comfortable mix of New York loft and Swiss chalet, in the Juhu suburb of Mumbai. “It’s turning out to be a stressful, emotional and crazy experience. I’ve to move out of my parents’ home in four days because the lifts are going to be renovated (laughs),” she says of her life at the moment. Just the night before, she read excerpts from Twinkle Khanna’s new book, The Legend Of Laxmi Prasad, at a glittering event at a five-star hotel in Mumbai, and then rushed to see her best friend Akanksha Ranjan. “People rush home to their boyfriends after wrapping work. I went to see my friend at 11 pm as we hadn’t met for a month and half,” says Bhatt, who was away in Singapore shooting for Badrinath Ki Dulhania. Clearly, success couldn’t have happened to a nicer person. Edited excerpts from the interview:

Working with Shah Rukh Khan must have been a dream come true. What are the challenges of working with a 51-year-old megastar?

The challenge was that I had to keep telling myself I was actually working with Shah Rukh. I couldn’t believe it! In fact, it was an enriching experience for me as I picked up a lot of things from him as an actor.

What was it like at the rehearsals and the first day of the shoot in Goa?