C OVER STORY
ALIA BHATT: THE GIRL
BEHIND THE STAR
M
arch 15, 1993 — I’m peering at the swathed
and motionless lump in front of me with terrified,
wide-eyed wonder. My father has led me into the
mostly bare hospital room, mere seconds ago. At first I
have eyes only for my mother, but that swiftly changes
when I spy the bundle in her arms. The room buzzes
with quiet anticipation as I inch closer, cautious. I can
almost hear my parents hold their breath as I come face
to face with the pink, mousy face that, unbeknownst to
me, will change my life. Twenty-two years later, a justas-pink, less mousy version of that face stares down
at me from what sometimes feels like every single billboard in the city. It’s difficult to describe what it’s like to
have your baby sister go from Aloo to Alia Bhatt almost
overnight. Fame has always been on the cards for her,
though. So, when Student Of The Year (2012) catapulted Alia into somewhat uncomfortable notoriety, it wasn’t
unexpected. “I want to be a star,” a five-year old Alia
once proclaimed after a rather spirited performance set
to the music of (for the purposes of this story and as
dramatic foreshadowing) Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. I sat in
a corner and rolled my eyes — it was the third time we
had watched her dance that day. At the age of five she
had her mind made up — she was going to be a star.
It’s not a decision she ever questioned and that unwavering certainty is the only thing I have ever envied her
for. While I went back and forth between vet, astronaut,
writer and unemployed millionaire, Alia always staunchly
maintained that she was going to act. And act, she did.
While the face that stares down at me from all those
billboards is my sister’s, that isn’t my sister up there. My
sister is the girl who trudges home after a long day of
shooting those campaigns to spend time with me because I’ve been snidely complaining about how I never
see her and how busy she is. She’s the girl who bursts
into tears on a Skype call with her family because she’s
been away from home for a month.