Alia Bhatt has joined Priyanka Chopra, Freida Pinto, Madhuri Dixit, Kareena Kapoor, Nandita Das, Sushmita Sen and Parineeti Chopra for “Girl Rising” — a campaign to raise awareness about the education of girls.
“We want girls to fly in the right direction and spirit and with the right heart. This will happen when people in our country understand that it is necessary for girls to study,” she said at an event to launch a short film in Mumbai on Thursday.
“I am a ‘girl rising’ means that I want to stand up today, want to study and make a future for myself. I want to have my own dreams fulfilled and I want to take over the world. Why alone send my brother to school, what about me,” she said.
The Student of the Year actress said there is a “harsh truth” in India when it comes to the education of young women.
“We as a country are growing and we want to reach great heights. We have come a long way. I am not here to say bad things about my country. I love my country but there is a certain harsh truth about our country which we have to face and the nice part is we want to make the change. I am Alia Bhatt and I am a girl rising,” she said.
Girl Rising: Woh Padhegi Woh Udegi, a short film by Academy Award-nominated director Richard E Robbins, which tells the stories of eight extraordinary girls from around the world, screens in the UAE on August 29 on Star Plus at 1.30pm. Bhatt is the voice of one of the girls in the film, Yasmin, alongside the other actresses who have lent their voices to the stories. The film has narration by actors Farhan Akhtar and Amitabh Bachchan.
The Highway star says her family — including her filmmaker father Mahesh Bhatt — advised her to use her popularity for the right causes.
“My father says I should use my popularity in the right direction and not just restrict it to films. I have been in the industry for three years and I try and do things like this,” said the 22-year-old.
“My mother used to pay for education of the daughters of [a] sweeper, watchman and others. This is something I saw happening at home and I want to take it up when I run my own house,” Bhatt added.
She said through her film Highway, she tried to portray how physical abuse happens at home.
“The cause that we tried to talk about is sometimes physical abuse happens in your own home, it is a harsh reality which we don’t want to face. It was deeply disturbing as I got to play that character and to understand what a girl might go through in her own house.
“I am happy I did the film. There are girls who told me that after watching the film they opened up about their experiences,” she said.
