Bollywood star Alia Bhatt on her new projects and the next wave of Indian entertainment

Alia Bhatt is one of Bollywood’s biggest actors whose films have garnered both critical acclaim and commercial success. She co-produces and stars in the upcoming Netflix dark comedy, “Darlings.” Join The Post’s Dave Jorgenson for a conversation with Bhatt about her wide-ranging career, how she sees the next wave of Indian entertainment and her upcoming projects.

Highlights

“There are now two phases of a film release, a film that releases on theatrical and a film that releases on a streaming platform. And when it releases on a streaming platform, it gets a whole… new release, like there’s a whole new energy that sort of comes towards the film. So, the earlier shelf life of a film would be maybe like, four to six weeks… and now because of all the streaming platforms the shelf life is at least like two to three months.”- Alia Bhatt (Video: Washington Post Live)

“It rarely happens when I start hearing a narration of a script or I read a script that I’m surprised. I kind of always have a certain sense of where the story is going to lead... and I know what’s going to unfold. But for the first time, I just didn't know what to expect and that feeling, the feeling of surprise is a very fun feeling. I like that it was a very simple story… At the heart of it, it’s a mother/daughter story and, at least over here in India, it’s been a while since I’ve seen like a really intimate mother/daughter story.”- Alia Bhatt (Video: Washington Post Live)

“I honestly find it really similar and I think for me, in this experience the biggest difference was being with a completely new crew, not having my regular team that I’m so used to. I totally dropped out of my comfort zone and went into this whole new, massive world, shooting this action movie and it was really exciting… For me, the only difference would be, over here [in India] I speak in Hindi and in Hollywood I speak in English. But that was the only major, major difference. Otherwise, the set functions the same way. Eventually, we’re all working towards one vision, which is the director’s vision and putting together the energy of hard work is the same… I didn’t see much of a difference.”- Alia Bhatt (Video: Washington Post Live)

“It’s something that is extremely sensitive and I feel from time to time, a lot of what you say, a lot of the opinions that the actors have given in the past have been maybe misconstrued or misreported or it’s sort of blown out of proportion in a very wrong way. So sometimes it’s just better to keep a lot of that to yourself. Everyone has opinions… but there are so many opinions out there right now, that I feel like the world can do with one less opinion. You sort of make your politics, or your values, or your causes very clear with the kind of work that you do... I just choose to kind of do my work and speak through my work and not really get into speaking in between.”- Alia Bhatt (Video: Washington Post Live)

Alia Bhatt

Actor & Co-Producer, “Darlings”