For Alia Bhat, acting and motherhood have one common thread — empathy. Alia became a mother in November 2022 and went back to sets with Rocky Aur Rani, for which she shot the romantic track Tum Kya Mile months after delivering the baby. But the film she signed on after becoming a mother was the prison-break drama thriller Jigra, backed by Karan Johar. It was a decision trigged by the range of emotions motherhood generated in her, Alia reveals.
On Sunday, the actor launched her debut book Ed Finds a Home. On the sidelines of the event, Alia spoke to Indianexpress.com about how she comes up with creative ways as a storyteller to read to her daughter Raha, how her actor husband Ranbir Kapoor and her are giddy every time their toddler does something new and why her choices are now influenced by motherhood.
Edited excerpts:
Alia Bhatt with her daughter Raha.
What are the ways in which motherhood influences one’s creative choices? Has it impacted the films you choose?
It really is inexplicable what motherhood does to you because it is ever so changing and evolving. As your relationship with your child blooms, your soul also evolves with that. You are just soaking it when it happens. I am someone with very high empathy so whenever I choose a script or read a certain material, that empathetic part of me is wide open and it is all about how deep that subject hits, entertains or stirs.
The change that has happened is that my empathy has gone higher, I am way more sensitive. So anything now to do with family, protection… Not that I wasn’t a family person earlier. You love your parents, your sister, but something changes when you become a parent yourself. There is a very primal, protection feeling that comes in. I don’t know how that affects my choices, I just know that in terms of my sensibilities it has magnified.
Alia Bhatt will be next seen in Jigra.
Was the decision to do Jigra born out of that?
Yes that’s right. The time when Jigra came to me, I was going through my most tigress, protective phase. It is possibly why I went mad about the material. It really, really spoke to me. Maybe it would have spoken to me prior as well, but it spoke to me very differently. It hit a different chord. Maybe something else must have come out of that. It is not like I can measure or mould that, but motherhood does make a difference.
What are the joys you have discovered as a new mother?
Seeing her personality unfold day by day. I get so surprised when she identifies an animal or when she repeats after me, like a grown up. When she communicates something, it is exciting because right now she is developing into a person. Every night, whenever Ranbir and I have a moment, we are always just talking about Raha and what we felt was special during the day and discuss those moments. As a parent, you are always looking forward to giving your child experiences, learning from them and them learning from you. It is just a very basic feeling of nurturing.
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Did being a mother influence the book?
The book is aimed or kids above the age of five, but when I started reading to Raha, I don’t think I bought books based on her age. Some books were given to me, I went out and read about certain books and bought them. The idea is to talk to your kids, you want to fill them with certain feelings, words and energies. All of that rolls off the tongue really well when there is a rhyming nature to it, a certain sing-song rhythm.
For the past 19 months, I have been reading to Raha every night. It is one of the things I look forward to the most. I get very creative with her as a storyteller! If there are animals, I make all those sounds. She loves animals, naturally! So all those dynamics came in later from my side and I kind of peppered it in my mum way, that the way I am doing right now for Raha, which of course I don’t think I could’ve preempted earlier.
You have all big films lined up– Jigra, Yash Raj Films’ spy universe and Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Love and War with Ranbir. What is the headspace like?
It is the same as before. Keep your head down, work hard, give you best and hope for the best. It is the same (smiles).
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