Alia Bhatt has reacted to the constant debate around privilege and nepotism in Bollywood.
Alia Bhatt has, time and again, faced unwanted attention regarding the topic of nepotism in the past. Being a daughter of film director Mahesh Bhatt and actor Soni Razdan, Alia made her debut with Karan Johar's ‘Student of the Year’ in 2012, alongside Varun Dhawan and Sidharth Malhotra.
The actress, however, has always maintained that she never takes her work for granted, and recalled how she got her debut film by auditioning for Karan Johar.
In an interview with Harper's Bazaar Arabia, Alia talked about the existence of privilege and nepotism in the industry and said, “It has definitely come up a lot in conversation over the last couple of years. The long and short of it is, I empathise. I understand that it’s possibly been easier for me to get through the door than maybe the next person. And I compare my dreams to another person’s dreams: no dream is bigger or smaller, or more intense. Everybody’s dreams are the same, everybody’s desire is the same. So I completely understand where that conversation comes from.”
She added, “The only thing I can say is that I acknowledge the fact that I have gotten that head start. I acknowledge the fact that I do have that privilege, which is why I give 100 percent every day and I never take my work for granted. The only thing I can do is keep my head down and keep working.”
Alia recently completed ten years in Bollywood, and also won her fifth Filmfare award, for Sanjay Leela Bhansali's ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi’. She also marked her debut at the Met Gala red carpet earlier last week. Now she is all set to make her Hollywood debut with ‘Heart of Stone’, where she stars alongside Gal Gadot and Jamie Dornan. She has Karan Johar's ‘Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani’ with Ranveer Singh and Farhan Akhtar's ‘Jee Le Zaraa’ in the pipeline.