‘IT’S VERY IMPORTANT FOR ACTORS TO DETACH’
Alia Bhatt on how emotionally draining film roles take a toll on her, and how she tackles them
At the age of 25 and within just five years in the film industry, Alia Bhatt has done what takes many actors a long, long time to accomplish. Since her debut with Student of The Year in 2012, she has made people sit up and take notice of her strong histrionic skills in a variety of parts including a few heavyduty ones such as Highway, Udta Punjab, Dear Zindagi and most recently, Raazi.
Do the emotionally draining roles take a toll on her? “I am sure they have an emotional impact in some way or the other. That’s why it is very important for actors to detach,” she says, as Raazi crosses ₹120 crore at the box office.
When asked what’s her idea of moving away from such characters, Alia says, “Like any other actor, for me too, that downtime — which is usually between me reaching home, going to sleep and then getting back to work the next day — is very important. What I do during my downtime — for an hour or so — disconnects me [from that film world]. Otherwise, you end up living only that character. And it is difficult because [during the shoots] even when you break for lunch and go to the [vanity] van, you’re still thinking about a particular scene and what is happening [with your character].”
However, she’s quick to add that at times, being “into a character” is a part of the job. “Sometimes it’s a nice escape and sometimes, you have to live with it [for a while]. The same thing happened with me vis-à-vis Raazi because we shot it in one go and I didn’t have any downtime. So, at the end of the day when I’d go to sleep, I was just too tired,” says Alia, recalling how she once got too emotional during the film’s shoot. “I was sitting with Meghna (Gulzar; Raazi director), and was generally talking about the character. We were not even shooting but I got very emotional and was like, ‘Why does Sehmat have to go through all of that? This is so sad.’ It’s weird, and not normal. How can that happen to anybody? So, obviously, your reel characters do leave a bit of residue in your real life.”
But the actor admits that these are just phases. “They take a toll on you as well but you still have to go through it. I dealt with the same things visà-vis Raazi as well, but I went through the process in a calm and positive [way]. I didn’t become negative or sad; I was just tired,” smiles Alia.