“My father once told me when I’m the most intelligent person in the room, you should find another room. Today I’m not going to have that problem,” began Alia Bhatt, winning a resounding applause from the audience at the India Today Conclave 2017 with her introductory line. She had stepped onto the stage to one of the most popular coming-of-age songs in Indian cinema: Papa Kehta Hain. The actress had made an apt choice for her entry song, considering she was here to discuss all the preaching she had received from her Papa.
When her father director Mahesh Bhatt found out that she had been asked to speak at the session, he had warned her: “Speak to me before you go, or the arena will eat you up!” The confident Alia need not have worried, for she had the crowd enthralled with her entertaining enactment of lessons from her father.
Flitting between the two chairs at centrestage, Bhatt played make-belief taking on the role of her gyaani father and then responding with comments of her own. “What’s the first lesson my father taught me,” she asked? “I had to really think about this. I was in the first grade, I was very nervous because I had a spelling test. ‘Why you worried,’ he asked. ‘What word do you think you’ll forget?’ After a thoughtful first-grader pause, I said, ‘THE’,” recalled Bhatt. Instead of pooh-poohing her worries, her father accepted her concern as his own and began gesturing wildly while he spelt out the three-letter word. The visual representation meant she’d never forget the spelling.
Here are some more amazing highlights from the session:
Alia: We’re talking about myth and reality, but I think we’ve had enough discussion on mythology, so my first question to you Papa is: What is reality?
There is no such thing as absolute reality. There is no holy man who can say this is it, this is reality. For every truth there is a more profound truth.
Alia: I agree! It all depends on perspective.
Alia: You have four children and three cats. What’s the one piece of advice for your children?
There’s always someone somewhere there’s always someone better than you. No matter how brilliant you are, never say you’ve arrived because that sows the seed of your disintegration. At the end of the day we’re all applause junkies.
Alia: That is true! Whenever interviewers ask me how I feel having achieved so much at such a young age, I actually don’t know what to say because I have not achieved enough. I’m just doing work and feel grateful for the opportunity. But I believe that there’s always someone better than me. One has to walk a tight rope and do our best and go with the flow. Hard gets you places, but being a member of your own fan club won’t get you anywhere.
Alia: One day I will no longer get roles. What do I do when that day comes?
This is the mother of all fears of every entertainer who has walked and will walk this earth. It is the feat of every mortal. The true narrative is that whatever is born will die. Nothing lasts forever. A beautiful rainbow, a silent night, a child’s smile. It all fades away. That fear of losing keeps us going. Fear is not a bad thing, keeps you alert, on your toes. Like you can’t outrun your shadow, you can’t out-run fear. You have to embrace it. Use it to your best interest.
Alia: I fear and I love what I do and because of that I give the same dedication to my work that a mother gives to a child.
