Although her father Mahesh Bhatt has always been an unconventional man, Alia has most times done the conventional thing. She ruffled no feathers, got on well with all costars (unlike, say, Jahnvi Kapoor, who won’t be in the same frame as Kartik Aaryan), made no demands (unlike Deepika Padukone, who won’t work more than eight hours), married an eligible bachelor who respected her career, and went back to work after maternity leave without a fuss.
You’d think she would be Ms Popularity on two feet. Instead, cynicism about her is growing. It couldn’t just be about her acting. Right from her second film Highway (2014) to Gangubai (2022) and her self-produced Darlings (2022), Alia has shown maturity beyond her years, quickly outgrowing her fluffy debut in Student Of The Year (2012).
Perhaps Jigra (2024) showed the first chinks — that Alia wasn’t versatile. Alia had already tripped when Heart Of Stone (2023), her Hollywood debut in a spy action thriller with Gal Gadot, failed to thrill. Most reviews had called it her weakest performance to date, making it an unsuitable step for her to have taken. To top it, the continuous postponement of YRF’s Alpha has led to speculation about Aditya Chopra nursing serious second thoughts on an Alia-led female spy film at this moment. But does a temporary setback in theatres call for such unpopularity?
Maybe it wasn’t about her films but about everything else that she tried to do. For one, she is not an intellectual; she is not Mahesh Bhatt. So, the usual celebrity spiel that “sugar is bad for you” or fighting pollution during a
festival or pointing to animal distress was not received well when it came from Alia. When celebs voice their concern for animals and the environment selectively, the opinions of people like Alia and Priyanka tend to get politicised. Also, if Alia preached that sugar was poison, she shouldn’t have endorsed sugary drinks.
But why beat Alia for her endorsements when older fitness freaks like Akshay Kumar and Hrithik Roshan have also been endorsing bottled drinks they would personally never touch?
It is a combination of factors that makes Alia an easy target, compounded by her recent disastrously unfunny turn as compere of an awards show. The culprit may have been a flat script. What Karan Johar can carry off with flair, his protégée cannot. Alia clearly doesn’t have the personality, the bang-on wit or the on-the-spot cheekiness that Shah Rukh and Karan have. Just as Karan doesn’t have it in him to be an impactful actor.
But Alia is not the first celebrity to try stepping outside the boundaries of an actor without doing a self-assessment. Brothers Dev Anand and Vijay Goldie Anand were always criticised for yearning to be in each other’s shoes. Dev was the effortless screen charmer, complete star material. Goldie was the younger brother who skilfully directed Shammi Kapoor in the musical thriller Teesri Manzil (1966). But Goldie wanted to be an actor and Dev and Shammi wanted to be directors. Imagine how Teesri Manzil would have turned out if Goldie had been the hero and Shammi the director.
Till his dying day, Dev wanted recognition as a filmmaker. But Shammi and Dev will always be known for their screen flamboyance while Goldie will be remembered, not for playing hero in stray films like Kora Kagaz but for directing his brother in runaway hits like Johnny Mera Naam (1970).
However, successful people always want more. Like Salman may be blessed with superstardom but he seeks creative satisfaction in all other departments. When Salim Khan was critically ill a while ago, Salman alternated between hospital duty and the editing room where his film on Galwan was taking shape. His dad’s home since then. But Salman’s film is yet to reach the theatres.
Bharathi S. Pradhan is a senior journalist and an author