Birthday Special: From Raazi to Gangubai Kathiawadi, Alia Bhatt’s finest hour in films

Picture Courtesy: Official Instagram Account, Alia Bhatt

Alia Bhatt is an explosive performer who has barely put a wrong foot in her career. The actress completes 29 years of her life and is on the verge of completing a decade in the industry. In these many years, she has achieved almost all the things Cinema has to offer.

As she celebrates her 29th birthday, we revisit some of her best performances so far:

Highway (2014)

The glitter of her debut was stripped off and she was thrown into a ruthless, rustic world of an army of monsters that have a bigger agenda than just abduction. As the film progresses, she senses an unexplainable joy of freedom, as if imprisonment was her new world. The claustrophobia of domestication suddenly faded away. It was a tough character, and endearingly performed.

Dear Zindagi (2016)

It takes balls to play such an unlikable character and make you root for it. Throughout, it's hard to decide what emotions this emotional fool needs or deserves. It's easy to dismiss her as a philander as she quickly changes relationships, and as we dig deeper, we sense a sense of cherophobia. Bhatt gave this role her all, and came out a better actor, a more evolved.

Raazi (2018)

Her naïveté suited the traits of the character. She's lost, aimless, and almost childish until one moment changes the course of her life. She lands in Pakistan but doesn't shout patriotic slogans that would make the audience erupt with wolf whistles. Across the border, Meghna Gulzar shows us nothing but humans. Raazi was a film filled with moments of restraint and remarkable display of human emotions. It worked because it never felt the need to be jingoistic, and because it had Alia Bhatt headlining the show.

Gully Boy (2019)

It was also the story of a gully girl who falls for this gully boy. She's possessive, obsessive, hyperactive, and even shrill. But it all works within the milieu Zoya Akhtar sets her film in.

Gangubai Kathiawadi (2022)

There's something about Alia Bhatt and her discovery of new worlds, albeit filled with horror and tragedy. After Highway and Raazi, her life takes an unpredictable and unexpected turn in this opus too. She's sold by her boyfriend at a brothel and a year later, she has transformed into a woman who can't be conquered. Even the Prime Minister bows down at her vision. Bhatt commands an arresting aura that makes Bhansali's drama far better than what it is.