I froze in the first shot with Shahrukh: Alia Bhatt said in RSIFF – Now we should call it Indian cinema, not Bollywood.

Bollywood actress Alia Bhatt interacted with the audience at the 3rd Red Sea International Film Festival held in Jeddah city, Saudi Arabia.

On this occasion, Alia said that companies all over the world do not need her but her country India. This is the reason why big companies make Indian film artists as their brand ambassadors.

Alia Bhatt discussing on stage at RSIFF.

Today the world needs India: Alia
At the event, Alia said- 'I don't need to go out of India to be global. Now the world's attitude towards India is changing. Today the whole world needs India.

Remember that Alia Bhatt, born on 15 March 1993 in Mumbai, is a British citizen. Alia lives in Mumbai and also has a house in London.

'I don't know how long my acting career will last, I thought I should do something permanent'
At the event, RSIFF programming head Kaleem Aftab asked Alia – You earn about 7.4 million dollars (Rs 60 crore) annually by working in films, then why did you start a business?

In response to this question, Alia said – 'I don't know how long my acting career will last or how long the public will accept me as an actress, so I thought of doing some permanent type of work.'

I created my own clothing brand named 'Ida Mamma'. Now Reliance Retail has become its partner by purchasing 51% shares of this company. By July 2023, the total net worth of this company would have reached $19 million.

Alia has shared many photos from the event on her social media account.

Papa used to say – For how long will you put petrol in other people's car, buy your own.
When asked what was the need to open one's own film production company? So Alia said- 'My father Mahesh Bhatt says that till when will you pour petrol in other's car, buy your own car and pour petrol in it. After this I opened my own company named Eternal Sunshine Production. Made his first film 'Darling' for OTT last year.

Under the banner of this company, I am making the film 'Jigra' under the direction of Vasan Bala with Karan Johar's Dharma Productions which will be released next year. After that, I am doing another film about which I can't tell anything right now.

'Now we should call it Indian cinema and not Bollywood'
Talking about the changes coming in Indian cinema, Alia said, 'There has been something to be proud of in our cinema in every era. Today we need to give a new identity to our cinema.

Now instead of calling it just Bollywood, we should call it Indian cinema which includes cinema of 27 languages.

Alia and Ranbir got married on 14 April 2022.

'I met Ranbir for the first time when I was 9 years old'
Referring to her first meeting with husband Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt said- 'In 2002, when I was 9 years old, I had gone to meet Sanjay Leela Bhansali in his office. In those days, Bhansali was making the film 'Black' and Ranbir was assisting him. At that time Ranbir had not become an actor so all my attention was towards Bhansali. But there was definitely something about Ranbir that I started getting attracted towards him.

I also got a photo clicked with him that day which is still safe with me. Then we started meeting regularly and finally after twenty years we got married on 14 April 2022 and now we also have a daughter.

Alia worked with Shahrukh for the first time in the film Dear Zindagi.

Shahrukh makes everyone comfortable: Alia
While sharing the experience of working with Shahrukh Khan in Gauri Shinde's film 'Dear Zindagi', Alia said- 'When I had to give the first shot of this film, I had just come out of the bath and my hair was wet. When I told my confusion to Shahrukh, he immediately said, 'No problem, I will also get my hair wet and then let's shoot.' He is very generous and makes the actor very comfortable.

So it happened that I froze in the very first shot with him. Gauri Shinde had to come and whisper in my ear that I should take action.

(Report by famous film critic and journalist Ajit Rai from Saudi Arabia)