Gal Gadot called my pregnancy great luck for ‘Heart of Stone’: Alia Bhatt

Alia Bhatt discovered that she was pregnant just before she started shooting for action film Heart of Stone but producer-star Gal Gadot was "warm, excited and started cheering" when she heard the news.

Bhatt said she felt very well taken care of by Gadot on the movie set.

"I remember when I had to call Gal and let her know that I was pregnant. I'm supposed to start shooting and I have all these action sequences but I wanted her to know because she's the producer on the film and also, I would have some restrictions maybe.

"And she was so warm, excited and started cheering, talking about how it's great luck for the movie and that she's got my back. I think very rarely you meet somebody and in the first two minutes feel very well taken care of, extreme warmth and just safety," the actress told PTI in a virtual roundtable.

The year 2022 was momentous for the Bollywood star who got married to actor Ranbir Kapoor, made her production debut with "Darlings" and welcomed daughter Raha.

Heart of Stone, a Netflix action film that she joined in March 2022, marks Bhatt's Hollywood debut. She plays hacker Keya Dhawan in the movie.

Bhatt said she felt comfortable right after her first meeting with Gadot. "When you are working with someone, of course, it's the working relationship that you take away. You just want to meet and interact with people who touch you and make you feel comfortable. And, that's exactly what I felt," Bhatt, 30, added.

Heart of Stone also features Jamie Dornan, Sophie Okonedo, Matthias Schweighofer and Bhatt said throughout the production, all the actors "were very serious, but we never took anything too seriously".

"There was a lot of hard work but there was a lot of just living the dream, sort of committing to the moment and just enjoying this film that we eagerly want the audience to enjoy. We had a great time making it. It was difficult and we had a lot of challenges but thank God, we had each other," she said.

Directed by Tom Harper, Heart of Stone follows Gadot's Rachel Stone, an intelligence operative working for a shadowy global peacekeeping agency called Charter. Things are set in motion when the organisation's cutting-edge weapon, a technological core called the Heart, is stolen by Bhatt's character, a hacker driven by her pursuit of justice. Stone then embarks on a globetrotting adventure to prevent the weapon from falling into the wrong hands and saving the day.

The real challenge, Bhatt said, is in dealing with the nerves and anticipation as the film nears its release on Netflix on August 11.

"What's challenging actually is the time now... waiting for the audience to respond because, at the end of the day, you make the film for the audience and your one job is to entertain them," she added.