‘I have an aversion to stars’
Even before it has gone on the floors, the third instalment of the Aashiqui film franchise is creating quite a buzz. There were rumours that
Alia Bhatt (right) and Sidharth Malhotra will star in the movie, but nothing has been confirmed yet. Ask film-maker Mahesh Bhatt (above), who is the producer of the movie, if any casting decisions have been taken, and he says, “We are nowhere close to seriously talking about it. Let’s see where we go. Whether Alia will star in it, or someone else will, is something we will answer later.”
Even though his daughter is one of the top actors in the industry today, the film-maker says he doesn’t like using his children as “meal tickets”. “If I don’t bring something new to Alia, then why should she do the film? I don’t use my children as my meal ticket. Also, I have an aversion to stars,” says the 67-year-old, laughing.
The film-maker might have written and directed popular and thought-provoking movies such as Arth (1982), Saaransh (1984) and Zakhm (1999), among others, but Alia always wanted to be an actor.
In fact, recently, she was quoted as saying that she isn’t a great writer, and doesn’t want to direct either. But the film-maker feels the 23-yearyear- old has it in her to become a writer. “I think she proved everyone wrong by writing a lovely piece for HT Café’s anniversary edition. Everyone, including Pooja and Shaheen (his other daughters), was surprised. Only a writer knows why the ability to put one word after another is a huge achievement. Sooner or later, Alia will arrive at a point when she will want to write. At the moment, she doesn’t feel that she has enough to write. She is playing characters that are written for her. Once she has enough life experiences, they will compel her to become a storyteller,” he says.