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Without mincing with the words, in 2012 when Alia Bhatt made her acting debut with Student of The Year, I honestly felt should would end up being another actress who would play the side kick to most the big stars of the industry, without achieving anything substantial in her career. But she proved me wrong, right with her second film, Highway. Although I am not a huge fan of the Imtiaz Ali directorial, I was pleasantly surprised by Alia Bhatt’s mature performance in the scene especially her outburst in the climax.
Highway made me believe that Alia Bhatt is here to stay. The film wasn’t a successful venture at Box-Office but played an essential role in establishing Bhatt as an ACTRESS. Highway was followed by two romantic comedies i.e. Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania and 2 States, and apart from looking extremely beautiful in the film, the actress had a substantial part to play in both the films. Her characters in the two films were written in such a way, that it had a lot of scope in terms of performance. Not just did the two films emerge extremely successful at the Box-Office, but also helped Alia strengthen her position in the industry.
However, like it happens with everyone, the lead actors of the film ran away with the credit for success, and in a way deserving so, given the way this industry functions. But alas at that point of time, not many realized that the industry was slowly seeing the rise of an actress, who would end up having a tremendous pull at the ticket window. After the success of the two films, Alia faced a speed breaker in the form of Shaandaar. Not just did the film fail, but it was also critically panned for the over the top performance. Shaandaar was followed up with Kapoor and Sons, and despite not being the centre of attraction in that film, Bhatt won over the audience with her limited screen presence. The success of all the above mentioned film was slowly creating a goodwill around the actress and she started getting popular face for the audience, especially in the metros.
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After Kapoor and Sons was Udta Punjab, and Alia took a 360 turn with the film. Her performance in the film was one of the major highlights, and it left each and every viewer of the film by shock. The performance was another feather on Alia Bhatt’s cap, and further strengthened her following in the cities. This was followed up by Dear Zindagi. Again, personally, I am not a huge fan of this film as I had my own reservations taking the basic premise, but none the less the actress yet again delivered a power packed performance, thereby leaving a mark again. Like most of her films, even Dear Zindagi was targeted towards the audience in the cities, and worked till a certain extent with the target audience. Badrinath Ki Dulhania marked the return of Alia Bhatt in commercial space, and yet again apart from getting commercial success, she played a character with several dimensions.