Alia Bhatt's focus now on acting, not stardom

Alia Bhatt became a star soon after she made her debut in Bollywood, but something is not right. The actress wants something more out of her and for the same she is now focusing on making herself better with each film rather than being affected by success.

Her latest release, "Udta Punjab", has helped Alia in cementing her acting credentials further and the 23-year-old actress says she wants to enjoy this phase in her life without bothering about the number game.

“It’s true that things are happening fast in my career but I am not scared of it right now. It’s great. I feel very grateful and privileged to be able to work with so many great directors and actors. I want to do as many films and play as many parts as I can,” Alia told PTI in an interview.

“I prefer not to see myself at the top, middle or the bottom. I don’t like to think that I am at the top because that will eventually come to you with you work or the way you deal with people. I will refresh and renew myself with each film.”

Her turn as a Bihari migrant worker, who unwittingly gets caught in the drug nexus of Punjab, has earned her praise from the audience and critics alike and Alia says it was one of the most difficult characters to portray.

“I am very happy with the kind of response I have been getting. I am not a method actor. I believe in the moment and I am very spontaneous like that. I couldn’t relate to my character but I could empathise with her and the situation she is in.”

To play the role, Alia had to get into a particular zone and that affected her adversely.

“I keep saying that it was most exhaustive 21 days of my life because my character demanded a lot of physical strain.  Emotional stress was high. There were nights when I used to wake up with bad dreams. It took a toll on my health. It took me a while to get over it,” she recalls.

The “Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania” actress also silenced critics who had slammed her accent when the first trailer came out.

“I always say that if people have opinion after seeing the movie, fair enough. But to have opinion based on trailer is not fair because you have not seen the whole content. I was confident that we didn’t stereotype anyone.”

After seeing the struggle the makers of “Udta Punjab” had with the Censor Board, Alia feels the board should concentrate on certification rather than censoring content.

“They should concentrate on the certification and that will bring an overall change. We all are working towards it now and hopefully it will change in few years.

“In our case (‘Udta Punjab’), all is well that ends well.  There was a good intention and which is why we won the case and everybody was on our side. The intent of the film was very honest.”