ALIA BHATT
IS GOING GLOBAL…
Asuperstar of Indian cinema, Alia Bhatt has already featured in two of the country’s biggest hits this year (RRR, Gangubai Kathiawadi) and is soon to add a third in Brahmāstra Part One: Shiva
– the first film in a planned trilogy blending super-heroics and Indian mythology. After that, Bhatt makes her English-language debut in Gal Gadot spy story Heart Of Stone. Or as she puts it, “I’m making my debut all over again.”
Brahmāstra has been a long time coming. When did you shoot your first scene?
In February [2018]! It was a huge endeavour for Indian cinema as it’s never been done before, this sort of vision. It’s a very intense journey. The stakes are really high. The situations they’re dealing with are extraordinary.
Did working at that scale take some getting used to?
I have to say, initially, it was really disorientating because it was just all bluescreen everywhere! But I need to go to work and not have something easy to do. If it’s easy, then I’m bored out of my head and I want to go home.
RRR has been a surprise hit on Netflix…
It’s doing so well in America in its original language, or in the Hindi language. It’s amazing, that it’s totally connecting. That’s what we hope to do with a film like Brahmāstra, because it has a potential to connect purely on the basis of its originality and the soul of the story.
How did Heart Of Stone come about?
I read the script and I just loved the character. I loved that it was headlined by Gal Gadot, who’s such an inspiring female star, and she’s trying to do this ambitious project by creating her own action franchise. I’ve wanted to tick that box for some time now – making my English-language debut. It’s a rare opportunity, because you get to reinvent yourself and start a new story.