REVELATIONS GALORE IN THIS CHITCHAT WITH ALIA, VICKY

Here’s all the fun from a session with actors Alia Bhatt, Vicky Kaushal and Raazi director Meghna Gulzar

Secrets and revelations aren’t just an integral part of Alia Bhatt’s latest film, Raazi, in which she plays a spy. The HT City Stars In the City session that the actor attended at HT House, Delhi, along with the film’s director Meghna Gulzar and co-star Vicky Kaushal, also had a few ‘did-you-know’ moments. The trio met the winners of the contest, and left them with an afternoon to remember, as they got candid in a conversation with Sonal Kalra, Managing Editor — Entertainment, Hindustan Times. The fun highlights include Alia singing a few lines of the song, Ae Watan, from Raazi, and Vicky joking about how Alia keeps bumping into things. “There’s one thing you will get to know immediately about Alia. She’s very accident prone, and keeps bumping into sofas, chairs and tables. If you hear someone exclaiming ‘Ooh’ or ‘Aah’, then Alia has definitely entered the room,” he said, making the audience erupt into laughter. “Also, her favourite word keeps changing like the weather. Kabhi ‘yes’, kabhi ‘nice’, aajkal Alia ka favourite word hai tots (short for totally). If you ask her ‘Alia, do you like this?’, she’ll say, ‘Tots, love it!’”

There were some revelations about Vicky, too — like how he almost became an engineer! “Subconsciously, I was always an actor, since I would be all for dancing or acting on stage when I was small. But I never really said this to myself that I will take this (acting) as a career option. I did engineering because I loved maths. Then our college took us for industrial visits in the second year, to show us our future. I immediately decided that sitting in front of computers all day long wasn’t going to be my future!” shared Vicky, who has an exciting slate of films lined up, including Manmarziyaan.

As part of the conversation revolving around Raazi, which is based on author Harinder Sikka’s book titled Calling Sehmat, Meghna shared that the film didn’t work out for her — twice.

“Someone from our current production house had mentioned the book to me just after Talvar released in 2015. They were trying to negotiate for the rights. Unfortunately, that conversation didn’t close, but I said that I would love to make the film whenever it comes my way. Call it destiny, but another production house approached me with the same book. That, too, didn’t work out,” she said, adding that it finally materialised after she developed a rapport with Sikka, the author.

Alia was Meghna’s first choice, even before the script had been finalised. In the film, she plays an Indian spy, who marries a Pakistani Army officer (played by Vicky) to get crucial information to help her nation.

Alia spoke about being “shocked” when she first heard the story, but she was also extremely excited for the role. “I couldn’t believe that this actually happened with a 20-year old girl, who gave up her life and everything, and became a spy for India in Pakistan. Also, I have closely followed Meghna’s work, and after Talvar, she went on top of the list of people I want to work with,” she said.

I couldn’t believe that this actually happened with a 20year old girl, who gave up her life and everything, and became a spy for India in Pakistan. ALIA BHATT ACTOR

Alia keeps bumping into sofas, chairs and tables. If you hear someone exclaiming ‘Ooh’ or ‘Aah’, then Alia has definitely entered the room. VICKY KAUSHAL ACTOR

Someone had mentioned the book (Calling Sehmat that inspired Raazi) to me just after Talvar had released in 2015. Unfortunately, that conversation didn’t close... Later, another production house approached me with the same book. That, too, didn’t work out. MEGHNA GULZAR FILMMAKER

PHOTO: AMAL KS/HT