Randeep Hooda Reveals Alia Bhatt Was Terrified Of Him During ‘Highway’: She Hadn’t Seen Much Of The World

Alia Bhatt made her debut with Karan Johar’s feature, ‘Student of the Year’, and coming from a film family, she was considered to be nothing more than a pretty face. However, she took everyone by surprise when she did ‘Highway’ as the second film of her career. 

The 2014 road drama film was written and directed by Imtiaz Ali, and starred Randeep Hooda alongside Alia. During a recent chat with Humans of Bombay, Randeep recalled how he maintained his distance from her on set for her benefit, so much so that Alia was terrified of being near him. 

In ‘Highway’, Alia was seen as a young woman who finds herself facing Stockholm Syndrome after being kidnapped by a truck driver. When asked if rumours of her not speaking to Alia were true, Randeep quipped,  “That was more for her,” adding, “She was from Juhu, she hadn’t really seen much of the world, she didn’t have exposure.”

Randeep further explained how he had exposure since he had been in NCR with the Gurjars and Jaats. “I grew up among them. So, to keep her fear of my character in place… She used to be terrified of me, and I made sure of that. I never spoke to her. She wouldn’t come sit next to me also. And that’s the effect we wanted in the movie, because that character had to be… She was new, she was still getting her acting chops right. I hope somebody does these things for me,” the actor recalled. 

Notably, Alia has now emerged to be one of the finest actors of this generation. Last seen in ‘Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani’, she will next be seen in ‘Jigra’, directed by Vasan Bala and co-produced by herself and Karan Johar. She also has Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘Love And War’ with husband Ranbir Kapoor and Vicky Kaushal.

Randeep, on the other hand, is gearing up for the release of his directorial debut ‘Swatantrya Veer Savarkar’, which is slated to release on March 22, 2024.