AFTER a couple of quiet years, actress Alia Bhatt has made a triumphant return with crime drama Gangubai Kathiawadi, which recently premiered at the Berlin Film Festival.
She has a whole load of high-profile films on the way, which include RRR, Brahmastra, Darlings and Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani.
Alia will celebrate her 29th birthday next Tuesday (15), so to mark her new film, forthcoming releases and birthday, Eastern Eye decided to compile an all-you-need-to-know alphabetical guide to the crown princess of Bollywood.
Winning an IIFA for Udta Punjab
A is for Awards: Alia has won multiple awards and nominations at major Bollywood ceremonies for her work in diverse films. Her biggest Best Actress wins have come for dramatically different roles in Highway (2014), Udta Punjab (2016), Raazi (2018) and Gully Boy (2019).
B is British: The actress was born in Mumbai on March 15, 1993, into a film family, but has British citizenship, thanks to her UK-born actress mother Soni Razdan.
C is for Cameos: The in-demand star has done a number of cameos in films that include Ugly (2013), Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (2016), Zero (2018), Student Of The Year 2 (2019) and Angrezi Medium (2020).
Sangharsh
D is for Debut: Alia was just six years old when she made her first big-screen appearance in a small supporting role in 1999 film Sangharsh, loosely based on Hollywood film Silence Of The Lambs (1991). She made her debut as a leading lady in Student Of The Year (2012).
E is for Eco-friendly: The philanthropic actress has contributed to various charities and highlighted social causes, including the environment and conservation. She launched a line of eco-friendly clothing for children and has also started Coexist, an online platform that focuses on ecological and animal welfare issues.
F is for Family: Alia comes from a famous film family that includes her filmmaker
father Mahesh Bhatt, actress mother Soni Razdan and half-sister Pooja Bhatt. She is also cousins with director Mohit Suri and actor Emraan Hashmi.
Gully Boy
G is for Gully Boy: The 2019 rap musical became India’s official Oscar entry in the Best International Feature category. It would also win Alia all the major Best Actress awards at the main Bollywood ceremonies, including at Filmfare, Screen, Zee Cine and IIFA.
H is for Highway: After multiple nominations for her 2012 debut film, Alia won her first major acting trophy for her second release Highway, when she received a Filmfare Best Actress (Critics) award.
I is for Instagram: With over 60 million followers, Alia is one of the most popular Indian celebrities on social media. J is for Jitters: She may be fearless onscreen, but the actress has revealed that she battles anxiety and has trouble balancing fame with her career. She admitted to having jitters before the release of a film, and one thing that helped is her sister Shaheen Bhatt’s book about living with depression, which helped her gain more awareness about mental health.
K is for Karan Johar: The filmmaker has been Alia’s mentor ever since he launched her as a leading lady in Student Of The Year. He has worked with her on multiple projects including 2 States (2014), Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania (2014), Shaandaar (2015), Kapoor & Sons (2016), Dear Zindagi (2016), Badrinath Ki Dulhania (2017), Raazi (2018) and Kalank (2019). She also plays the lead in his forthcoming productions Brahmastra (2022) and Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani (2023).
L is for Literary: Her film 2 States was a big-screen adaptation of Chetan Bhagat’s 2009 book 2 States: The Story Of My Marriage; while Raazi was based on Harinder Sikka’s 2008 novel Calling Sehmat. Her latest film Gangubai Kathiawadi (2021) is inspired by a chapter from Hussain Zaidi’s book Mafia Queens of Mumbai.
With Ranbir Kapoor
M is for Marriage: The actress is currently engaged to actor Ranbir Kapoor, and admitted to having a crush on him since she was 11 years old. It happened on the sets of 2005 film Black, for which she unsuccessfully auditioned, and where he was working as an assistant director. After a number of delays, they are expected to marry by the end of the year.
N is for Nepotism: Despite her incredible success, the actress has been at the wrong end of the Bollywood nepotism debate, with many saying she got an unfair advantage due to her family connections. This resulted in perhaps Alia’s lowest moment when her film Sadak 2 (2020) broke the YouTube record for the most disliked film trailer and Indian video globally, and led to her father Mahesh Bhatt’s comeback as a director becoming a huge disaster.
O is for Organising: The actress has admitted to being obsessed with organising
and making plans.
P is for Producer: The A-list star will make her debut as a producer with forthcoming comedy-drama Darlings. She plays the lead role in the film, which is a co-production with Shah Rukh Khan’s company Red Chillies Entertainment.
Q is for Queen: Most industry experts agree that it is only a matter of time before she becomes the undisputed queen of Bollywood. One of the highest-paid leading ladies in Indian cinema, she has huge films on the way that will inevitably put her in the Hindi cinema throne.
R is for Refusal: High-profile films that Alia has rejected include Neerja (2016), Raabta (2017), Golmaal Again (2017), Thugs Of Hindostan (2018), Saaho (2019),
and Tamil film OK Kanmani (2015).
Student of the Year
S is for Student Of The Year: Alia made her debut as a lead star with the musical after auditioning alongside 500 girls and then losing 16 kilos for the role of a teenage student. The film became a success, but she received largely negative reviews and used them to work even harder.
T is for Trivia: Some interesting facts about Alia include her desire to play late Pakistani singer Nazia Hassan in a biopic, and forthcoming film RRR being her Telugu language debut. She is also an accomplished singer (see V) and a trained Kathak dancer. Her favourite movies include Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995), Jab We Met (2007), Love Actually (2003) and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004). Also, her nickname is Aloo.
U is for Udta Punjab: Her finest performance and arguably most challenging role came in 2016 crime drama Udta Punjab. Not surprisingly, she won universal acclaim and multiple Best Actress awards at all the major Bollywood award ceremonies, including Filmfare, Screen, IIFA and ZEE Cine.
V is for Voice: Alia has sung a number of songs, with the most popular being a version of Samjhawan for Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania – it has been viewed more than 163 million times on YouTube.
W is for Wealth: One of the highest-paid stars in Bollywood, she regularly features in the list of India’s wealthiest celebrities. Alia also makes millions of pounds from the major brands she endorses and also has her own businesses, including a clothes brand and production house.
X is for X-Factor: The actress admitted that nepotism exists in Bollywood but doesn’t think it is enough to survive in the industry. She said: “In the film business, you can do whatever you want, but there has to be that X-factor that people talk about.”
Y is for Youngster: Alia first realised she wanted to be an actress while rehearsing
for a school choir in kindergarten and this led to her taking professional dance lessons. She once said: “As a child, I used to try and emulate Aishwarya Rai, Kareena Kapoor and even Shah Rukh Khan. I wanted to be like him.”
Z is for Zodiac: Alia is a Piscean – someone born under that sign is considered to be compassionate, adaptable, accepting, imaginative, artistic, intuitive, gentle, sensitive and wise. She has used these traits to become a huge success.
The actor’s evolving style from youth to maturity getty images
Aamir Khan embracing vintage looks with classic charmgetty images
Bold and dramatic changes defining Aamir Khan’s careergetty images
From rugged to refined Aamir Khan’s versatile appearancesgetty images
Memorable film moments showcasing Aamir Khan’s unique stylegetty images
Aamir Khan’s blend of classic and contemporary fashiongetty images
Aamir Khan’s dedication to authentic character portrayals getty images
Cinematic milestones reflected in Aamir Khan’s on-screen imagegetty images
A seated Jain enlightened teacherAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Ganesha from JavaAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
A Chinese silk painting depicting the BuddhaAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
ArdhanarishvaraAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Head of a grimacing yakshaAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
NagaAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
The Bimaran casketAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Hunia Chawla
A still from rehearsal
Them performing liveNajmuddin Saifuddin Qawwal Group
The cast of Marriage Material in key moments from the play, including Avita Jay, Kiran Landa, Omar Malik, Irfan Shamji and Anoushka Deshmukh
Sathnam Sanghera’s 'Marriage Material' adapted into bold new play on conformity
The play Marriage Material at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre is Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti’s adaptation of Sathnam Sanghera’s novel of the same name, which first came out in 2013.
She is lucky to have Iqbal Khan direct Marriage Material. The play, a co-production with the Birmingham Rep, is set in the late 1960s. Mr and Mrs Bains (played by Jaz Singh Deol and Avita Jay) run a corner shop in Wolverhampton. Their younger daughter, Surinder (Anoushka Deshmukh), is 16, her sister Kamaljit (Kiran Landa) is just a bit older.
They have a neighbour, Patwant Dhanda (Irfan Shamji), who, as we shall soon see, is not a very pleasant man. In fact, he comes across just as racist as Enoch Powell, who represented Wolverhampton South West for the Tories from 1950 to 1974.
It will be recalled this was a time when Sikhs working on the buses were told they couldn’t wear a turban. That was a hard-fought battle that had to be won.
The Bains, meanwhile, simply want to get their girls married off.
Nothing new here, I thought.
What makes the tale different is that the plot twists and turns down the generations. Mr Dhanda, who has the makings of a paedophile, makes a pitch for one of the girls when Mr Bains dies early in the play. “A life with no man in the house is no life,” he informs the newly widowed Mrs Bains.
Mr Dhanda has a wife but she has returned to India so he considers himself to be a free man.
Surinder’s English teacher from school, Miss Flanagan (Celeste Dodwell), who is also head of the fifth form, tells Mrs Bains about her daughter: “I don’t want to embarrass you, but she is bright. Ridiculously bright.”
She adds: “Mrs Bains, I think it would be a pity if Surinder didn’t stay on at school.” The initial response from Mrs Bains is not encouraging: “Too much education makes people’s brains get mixed up, they don’t sleep at night…”
But she is finally persuaded that Surinder should be allowed to stay on for a while longer before being married off.
Mr Bains was very old school. When Surinder confides she would one day like to be “a somebody”, he is amused that “my daughter wants to be a somebody”.
“Like you,” she tells her father.
Mr Bains consoles his daughter: “We will find a somebody for you to marry.”
At the point of a possible marriage, however, Surinder is sweet-talked by chocolate salesman Jim Wilson (Tommy Belshaw) into running away with him. They share a love of literature, and he calls her “Sue Bains”. But the relationship does not end well.
Once she has left, Surinder is written off as “dead” by her family. The story that is circulated is that she was only 16 when she was killed in a car crash. That’s better than to let on that she ran off with a white man.
By the time she is reconciled with her sister towards the end of the play, a great deal has changed. Kamaljit married Tanvir Banga (Omar Malik), a young man who helped out in the Bains’ corner shop. When the two sisters meet again, Tanvir has also died. But he and Kamaljit had a son, Arjan Banga (Jaz Singh Deol doubles up for this role after the death of Mr Bains). He has come home after his father’s death to help his mother who is still running the family corner shop.
Meanwhile, Mr Dhanda’s business has prospered. He now has a son, Ranjit Dhanda (the role is taken by Omar Malik after Tanvir’s death), and he is nearly as unpleasant as his father.
Arjan has an English fiancée, Claire (Celeste Dodwell). In London, Arjan worked as a creative director. But after deciding to stay in Wolverhampton to help his mother, he decides he cannot marry Claire because she is white. In other words, Asians are not free of racism, either. Happily, at the end, the couple are reconciled.
As for Surinder, she parted company with Jim Wilson after realising he was all talk, depended on her for money and had failed to earn a penny from his literary pretensions. She had prospered, though, as a hotel owner and had been transformed in time into a well-groomed businesswoman. After being tracked down by Arjan, she decides to return to her roots in Wolverhampton and help Kamaljit run the family corner shop. Perhaps 50 years had passed during the passage of the play.
Being subjected to racism turned some Asians into racists themselves. The word goreh (white person) is repeatedly spat out with venom. Maybe it is worth remembering the play’s audience isn’t exclusively Asian – white folk are watching as well. And maybe some of the toilet humour ridiculing white people, which always makes me cringe, could be cut out.
In Sanghera’s novel, there is a quote from Enoch Powell’s speech in November 1968: “The West Indian or Asian does not, by being born in England, become an Englishman. In law he becomes a United Kingdom citizen by birth; in fact, he is a west Indian or an Asian still... he will by the very nature of things have lost one country without gaining another, lost one nationality without acquiring a new one. Time is running out against us and them. With the lapse of a generation or so we shall at last have succeeded – to the benefit of nobody – in reproducing ‘in England’s green and pleasant land’ the haunting tragedy of the US.”
In Marriage Material, where the acting is marvellous (apart from Mr Dhanda’s Indian mannerisms and accent being overdone) we do travel across a couple of generations.
There is a scene when Tanvir rejects Mr Dhanda’s vision of creating a little Punjab in Wolverhampton.
Mr Dhanda wants to take over the Bains’ corner shop and is putting pressure on Tanvir to sign the papers. He says: “In this country, money is the path to freedom.”
“Sign, please,” he instructs Tanvir. “We must make sure our children learn to behave nicely, according to our rules.”
He insists: “We maintain our identity so we can be ourselves.”
Tanvir disagrees: “We can be us here. With the goreh.”
Dhanda warns him: “Then we will be inviting chaos.”
Tanvir’s comment is telling: “You sound like Enoch.”
Kamaljit, who is expecting a baby with her husband Tanvir, says: “I would like my child to grow up knowing the history of the Gurus and to read the Granth Sahib. And to love their culture.”
Tanvir tells his wife: “I would like my child to go to the finest schools, to cheer for England in the World Cup and eat Yorkshire pudding on a Sunday.”
Kamaljit sets out a dream that has perhaps come to pass with many third and fourth generation British Asians: “Maybe our child can do both.” Much, much later, in a throwback to the past, we learn of Surinder’s O-level results: “Biology A, Chemistry A, English Language A, English Literature A, French A, History B, Latin A, Mathematics A, Physics A…”
Kamaljit tells her younger sister: “Never mind about the B.”
And that is quintessentially Asian. Their acting is outstanding.
Marriage Material is at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre until June 21, and at the Birmingham Rep from June 25-July 5