It’s a Sunday afternoon on Floor #1 of Mehboob Studios, and Alia Bhatt is biting into multiple bars of Perk. Dressed in white vest, sunshine yellow bomber jacket and denims, you could mistake the 29-year-old for a teen. Except that we are in the presence of ‘India’s new acting superstar’, a term India Today had first coined for her now boyfriend of five years, Ranbir Kapoor, in 2013. That label sits well on Alia too today, but then, she, as always, likes to play it cool. “I have to observe, without it seeming like acting,” she says, of her Perk shoot, but it may well be her life’s credo. The chocolate is one of 23 brands the actor currently endorses. There cannot be a better fit for their brand, believes Monosij Bandyopadhyay, category marketing manager, chocolates, at Mondelez International, given her “girl-next-door image” and “immense popularity with teens and young adults”.
One such admirer happens to be on set. Twenty-four-year-old actor Deep Jangid beams as he is introduced to his co-star, Alia. He recently watched Gangubai Kathiawadi in cinemas, and it has left him a fan of ‘Alia Ma’am’. “Do you think I can ask her for a photograph?” he asks, after the shoot wraps.
This story is from the April 11, 2022 edition of India Today.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the April 11, 2022 edition of India Today.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Shuttle Star
Ashwini Ponnappa was the only Indian to compete in the inaugural edition of BDMNTN-XL, a new international badminton tourney with a new format, held in Indonesia
There's No Planet B
All Living Things-Environmental Film Festival (ALT EFF) returns with 72 films to be screened across multiple locations from Nov. 22 to Dec. 8
AMPED UP AND UNPLUGGED
THE MAHINDRA INDEPENDENCE ROCK FESTIVAL PROMISES AN INTERESTING LINE-UP OF OLD AND NEW ACTS, CEMENTING ITS REPUTATION AS THE 'WOODSTOCK OF INDIA'
A Musical Marriage
Faezeh Jalali has returned to the Prithvi Theatre Festival with Runaway Brides, a hilarious musical about Indian weddings
THE PRICE OF FREEDOM
Nikhil Advani’s adaptation of Freedom at Midnight details our tumultuous transition to an independent nation
Family Saga
RAMONA SEN's The Lady on the Horse doesn't lose its pace while narrating the story of five generations of a family in Calcutta
THE ETERNAL MOTHER
Prayaag Akbar's new novel delves into the complexities of contemporary India
TURNING A NEW LEAF
Since the turn of the century, we have lost hundreds of thousands of trees. Many had stood for centuries, weathering storms, wars, droughts and famines.
INDIA'S BEATING GREEN HEART
Ramachandra Guha's new book-Speaking with Nature-is a chronicle of homegrown environmentalism that speaks to the world
A NEW LEASE FOR OLD FILMS
NOSTALGIA AND CURIOSITY BRING AUDIENCES BACK TO THE THEATRES TO REVISIT MOVIES OF THE YESTERYEARS