Exclusive! Alia and Pooja Bhatt talk about 'Sadak 2', their equation with Mahesh Bhatt and more..

Mahesh Bhatt’s daughters — Pooja Bhatt and Alia Bhatt — were born two decades apart. Little wonder then, their equation with their father is vastly different. While Pooja was launched in Bollywood by Bhatt in Daddy (1989), Alia made her debut with Karan Johar’s Student Of The Year (2012). Though the veteran filmmaker had retired by then, he now returns to helm Sadak 2, which will feature both the actresses. During a recent meeting, the Bhatt girls shed some light on the equation they share with daddy dearest and the impact he has had on their lives and careers.

THE MINDREADER

Pooja feels that her papa has the uncanny ability to read what’s on her mind. She cites an example, “The other morning, I was uploading a picture of him and his boss Raj Khosla on my social media account. I was thinking of a caption when he messaged me exactly what I was about to type out. I thought to myself, this is getting a bit scary, he is picking up my thoughts now.” Living with him, she feels, is like living under a microscope. “You just can’t hide,” she says, adding, “When I think about him, I remember the quote by Galileo where he spoke about the sun. He had said that the sun does every job with the same amount of ease and puts in the same amount of passion to make the planets revolve around it as it does as warming the grapes that put the wine on your table. Similarly, dad babysits Edward (Alia’s cat) with the same passion that he has when he makes a movie.”

A BIG SWITCH

For Alia, who never thought that her father would ever step out of his retirement to direct a film with her, this project is a dream come true. But that isn’t just because her father is an ace filmmaker, but also because of the way their bond has evolved. Alia elaborates, “In these last two years, I’ve witnessed a switch in my relationship with my father. I had never thought that I would ever have this kind of an equation with him. He was always very busy when I was young. Now that I am working, I understand why he was so caught up. But the relationship that I share with him today is solely because of the time, affection and attention that he has given in building and nurturing it.” 

Pooja, Alia and Mahesh Bhatt

THE TEACHER

Pooja credits her dad for playing a big part in shaping the personality of those close to him, like Sanjay Dutt and herself. “Working with him has made us the people that we are today. We had the privilege of being on his sets where he told us that you don’t need to be anything more than what you are. The world would need to accept and exult in what you are,” she avers.

The actress-filmmaker feels that very few directors have the acumen that her fatherdoes. “I strongly believe that it’s the film-maker’s gaze that you bloom under. And he looks at you in a certain way that makes you feel as though you are the most beautiful creature on the planet. For me, it’s going to be joyous to watch Alia being directed by him because I am going to see this whole new relationship blossom between them now.” 

NOBODY LIKE HIM

It was the way Bhatt narrated the story that made Alia feel that no other director could direct Sadak 2. “When I heard the story, I told him what Sanju had already said, that I cannot do this film if you are not directing it. I was not just in tears, but I was sobbing and shaking at the end of it. He put up the most creative narration that I have heard in my life with the music and the beats. It was so earnest that it broke my heart. Sanju recently told me, ‘Alia you don’t know what you are getting into. You have no idea what it is to be directed by your father’. At the shoot of the picture with the cast, I got a glimpse of it. And to tell you the truth, I am scared for my life because if that’s the kind of emotional journey that we are going to go on for I don’t know how many odd days, I think I may just end up being born again.”