By Souvik Ghosh
After a brief break from big screens after the birth of her daughter Raha, Alia Bhatt is set for a comeback with Karan Johar’s ‘Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani’, co-starring her ‘Gully Boy’ mate Ranveer Singh. As she promotes the film- slated for July 28 release- in Kolkata, IBNS-TWF correspondent Souvik Ghosh catches up with her… 
Q. You are long associated with Karan Johar. How different is Karan’s filmset from the other ace filmmakers you have worked with?A. I don’t like to compare film sets. It’s nice that every film set has a different energy and a different creative flow. That’s also why we like to do different films and genres and characters because it keeps it different. I think one thing I appreciate deeply working on a Karan Johar film set is that the atmosphere is very light and everybody’s creative inputs matter.
Q. It has been a while since you two featured together onscreen. How was the reunion?A. In ‘Gully Boy’, our characters were somewhere from the same world. But in this film, we are very opposite. But there is so much safety which we both felt with each other performing. Both of us gave each other the space to perform. We just added fuel to our individual fires, I would say. We let the fire keep burning and I think that safety and creative playrooms are very exciting. We turn into children when we are creatively engaged. Moreover, I am really into numbers. Both of our numbers are six, so I feel very much connected.
Q. What did you do to make sure you don’t stereotype the Bengali culture through your role?
A. It was very important not to stereotype the Bengali culture because none of us want to see stereotyped characters in today’s time. There has to be a lot of referencing. I relied on Churni ma’am (Churni Ganguly, co-actor) and Tota sir (Tota Roy Choudhury) and a lot on just the general creative. Our main dialogue writer was a Bengali. She was very sensitive about that.
Q. Could you confirm whether the politically-charged ‘Khela Hobe’ dialogue is facing an exclusion by the censor board?
A. There have been some minor cuts that have been asked by the board (CBFC) and we respect that completely and that has been cooperated. But for ‘Khela Hobe’, it’s not the case. The final cuts are seamlessly flowing regardless of these little minor cuts.We don’t want to give too much weight because it was a scene which plays out between me and Jaya ma’am (Jaya Bachchan) in the film. One has to know the context of the scene to know why Rani (Alia’s character) had to utter that line. So we don’t want to spoil the moment by speaking too much on it. I would request the audience to watch the film first.
Q. Since your last release (Brahmastra), a lot has changed (childbirth) in your personal life. How has the change impacted your professional life?
A. I have to be very honest. I always thought I had a lot of love to give and I am a very loving person. But after becoming a mum (mother) and giving birth to my beautiful daughter, the whole language of love has changed completely and become so much larger. I don’t think I can put it into words as to how it has changed. But most definitely, I have a whole new barrage of emotions to fill and I am just way more sensitive. I don’t know what that will bring for me in my professional life but that is what I currently feel.
(Photos: Avishek Mitra) IBNS-TWF