Mahesh Bhatt Explains Why Alia Bhatt is Similar to Smita Patil

Bengaluru: Filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt said that his daughter actress Alia Bhatt and many other actresses are like actress Smita Patil, who could handle both commercial and parallel cinema effortlessly.

"There is a new dawn and a new energy. There is a new beginning, I must say. I see a lot more actors, including a few regional and parallel cinema actresses and also my daughter Alia Bhatt walking the way this great actor Smita did way back in time. She could act both in commercial and parallel films and not become cliched," Mahesh Bhatt told PTI in an interview here.

Mr Bhatt was here to attend the two-day Smita Patil festival. The filmmaker said that Alia has the potential to walk the path of Ms Patil as she has been doing both commercial and experimental films from a very young age.

"Why shouldn't I mention my daughter Alia? She has done Highway and also some lighter roles at a very young age. She can do both commercial and experimental films as she has grown up seeing Smita Patil and Shabana Azmi's movies by my production house," added Mr Bhatt.

"However, I do not want to limit this to my daughter alone. There are other girls doing regional films. They are talented. I think, once they foray into mainstream cinema, they may become smart to oscillate between doing parallel and commercial cinema," said Mr Bhatt.

Mr Bhatt said that parallel filmmakers did not feel betrayed when Ms Patil did commercial films like Namak Halal and Shakti, but benefited by the star value she brought to their respective tables.

"I think they benefited enormously after she switched over to mainstream cinema. Smita did exactly what Emraan Hashmi is doing, bringing star value to the table of parallel filmmakers by doing commercial films and offbeat films like Shanghai," he said. (Also Read: Alia Bhatt Has Done Amazing Films, Sorry For Shaandaar: Karan Johar)

Mr Bhatt recalled that Ms Patil was not unfair to parallel filmmakers as she was always available to them.

"She was always available whenever they came to her with a story idea or a film," he added.