Alia Bhatt, who is currently riding high on the success of her latest release ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi’, which minted Rs385 million in its first weekend, agrees that being a public figure is not easy and that constant vigilance and talks about her private life does get stifling at times.
“But then I am like ‘why am I an actor?’ If you want to be a public figure then your life will get public. That’s why one tries to protect his/her personal life,” Bhatt reasoned.
The actress, who is in a relationship with actor Ranbir Kapoor, says she likes to keep her private life guarded.
“I don’t want to give out details of when I am getting married because it is nobody’s business or where I am going for lunch as it is nobody’s business. But people are speculating and talking about it, now that there is something I can’t do much about,” she continued.
The actress is all set to complete a decade in Hindi cinema this year having made her Bollywood debut with Karan Johar’s ‘Student Of The Year’ in 2012. She followed that up with a string of hits inlcuding ‘Highway’, ‘Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania’, ‘Udta Punjab’, ‘Dear Zindagi’, ‘Raazi’ and ‘Gully Boy’.
Looking back on her Bollywood journey, the daughter of filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt and actress Soni Razdan is happy how far she’s come.
“I think I definitely evolved as an actor and a person. I was a bit all over the place initially running around trying to prove a point,” Bhatt revealed but the 28-year-old actress says she is now doing things to make herself happy.
“I don’t have pressure on my head. I don’t think there is any fun in having pressure. It’s not a race, it is a creative medium. You have to satisfy that creative bug inside you and move on. After working with Sanjay Leela Bhansali sir, my approach towards acting has changed,” she added.
Every time she comes on screen, she takes her own game higher, but Bhatt says she does not approach her craft like a game of chess.
“I don’t get into how and in what way it happens. For me acting is like my passion, it keeps me happy and that is the reason I act. I am not playing some calculating game where I am doing things for the right move. It’s not chess for me. It’s like painting and meditation,” she said.
Her latest, ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi’, is out now in UAE cinemas.
