HELLO THERE! “Kyamon achho shobai?” is how Alia Bhatt greeted Kolkata as she entered Priya Cinema with folded hands and her trademark dazzling smile on Monday afternoon. Elegant in an off-white jamdani sari complemented by some stunning jewellery, Alia had us at hello. “I have such a strong and beautiful connect with Kolkata. There is a ritual where you give sweets and hence I have brought something extremely sweet from our film Gangubai Kathiawadi. It is a song called Meri jaan, which we are going to launch for the first time for the world in Kolkata,” smiled Alia.
SWEETS & SLB: Presented with a packet of sweets as a welcome gesture, Alia picked a jolbhora taalsash sandesh and exclaimed excitedly “Sondesh!” She relished it while talking about the experience of being a Sanjay Leela Bhansali heroine. “Twenty years ago, I had walked into his house to audition for the little girl’s part in Black. I don’t know what audition I gave, but since then I knew and believed in my heart that one day I would be directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali and I put that out into the universe. Finally, 20 years later, my first film with sir is releasing. It is a life-changing, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for an actor.”
SONG ’N’ dance: After the screening of Meri jaan, Alia shared her experience of shooting it. “It was a very difficult song to do because it is for the first time I think the camera was not moved. It is all about two actors and their chemistry and their synergy. Shantanu (Maheshwari, the Kolkata boy who is Alia’s co-actor in the song) is a beautiful dancer. He has been a dancer for many, many years. He has a natural rhythm in his body. Sir is very particular about the beat and we had to emote and do the movements on the beat. So for us to stay on the same page and emote at the same time was very important. We did 20 takes and throughout those 20 takes I just wanted the world to see it and I wanted to know how people would react to the camera not moving and two actors interacting with each other,” she said.
BERLIN TO BENGAL: As Alia sat on the couch, she was presented with a red rose that made her smile from ear to ear. Sharing her experience of taking Gangubai Kathiawadi to the Berlin International Film Festival last week and then hop, skip and jumping to Kolkata for the song launch, she said, “We thought it is a good song to bring to Kolkata and it has also been a while since I came to Kolkata to promote my film. The response in Berlin has been overwhelming. They enjoy Indian flavour, colour and culture. I have been to Berlin twice before. They say the third time is a charm but the last two times were also pretty charming, so I think it was a charming experience. Berlin has been very lucky for me so far.”
ADIOS: The highlight of the Priya stopover was Alia recreating the signature Gangubai greeting on the balcony of the movie theatre to roaring fans below.
Pictures: Pabitra Das