Not letting go of big screen charm

Alia Bhatt has no plans of foraying into television for time being

NEW DELHI:

While many Bollywood celebrities like Amitabh Bachchan, Anil Kapoor, Salman Khan and Shahid Kapoor have tasted success in the telly world, actress Alia Bhatt feels she needs “many more years in the Indian film industry” to do a TV show.

The Highway actor says TV requires a large body of work. “For me to do a TV show you need a lot of body of work. Like for Amit ji (Amitabh Bachchan), he is a superstar, who can hold that together. For me, I need many more years in the Indian film industry to hold a TV show together,” Alia, who has appeared on TV mostly for film promotions, said in an interview.

“You need a big body of work to hold a TV show on your shoulders. Not in terms of shooting length. It’s for you to be well known and well appreciated by fans so that you can hold a TV show,” added the 22-year-old, who will next be seen on the silver screen in filmmaker Vikas Bahl’s romantic comedy Shaandaar alongside actor Shahid Kapoor.



Apparently, Alia signed Shaandaar much before she did Highway and Bahl came into limelight with Kangana Ranaut starrer Queen.

Asked what urged her to take up this film, Alia explained that Vikas came to her with only five lines. He said that it’s a love story of two insomniacs, there is a destination wedding, and there are some four characters that are completely crazy.

“The world that he was describing turned out very fairytale type where there were castles, horses, stars and dragonflies. I felt that the world was unique. The story was entertaining, fun and sweet. Also there was this father-daughter relationship between Pankaj (Kapur) sir and me, which I found very interesting,” she added.

Alia also described Shaandaar as the “first time destination wedding film” in India. “We all are very well aware that ‘shaadi’ films do really well in our film industry.’Shaadi’ is such an important moment for all of us in our lives. We really go all out to celebrate a wedding,” said Alia.

“There is always ‘shaadi’, but not like the one we are showing in the film, where all of us go to a destination and live under one roof. This is something that Vikas has touched upon for the first time”.

Asked whether she would be marrying someone from the film fraternity, or would like to tie the knot to someone from a non filmy background just like Shahid, Alia said, “I think time will tell. I can’t predict the future at this moment”.

Shaandaar released on Thursday on the occasion of Dussehra. 

Published in The Express Tribune, October 24^th, 2015.

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