If life is a Highway, Alia Bhatt is at milestone 21

Alia Bhatt is the most in-demand young actress in Bollywood today. All of two films old, Alia combines fresh-faced charm with very real acting chops and has been hailed as the next best thing by critics. On her 21st birthday, a look at her life and fledgling career.

Alia was born on March 15, 1993 to producer-director Mahesh Bhatt and his second wife, actress Soni Razdan. She is the half-sister of actors Pooja Bhatt and Rahul Bhatt and the niece of producer Mukesh Bhatt. Actor Emraan Hashmi and director Mohit Suri are her cousins.

Alia has always wanted to become a Bollywood star, as she confessed on Koffee With Karan. At six, she made a cameo appearance playing the younger version of Preity Zinta in the 1999 film Sangharsh.

Unlike her sister Pooja, there was no readymade launch pad in the form of a Mahesh Bhatt film for Alia. Instead, she made her debut as a lead actress in Karan Johar's 2012 hit Student Of The Year opposite fellow Bollywood rookies Siddharth Malhotra and Varun Dhawan.

Alia was then cast as Veera, a poor little rich girl kidnapped and taken on a road trip which turns out to be a journey of self-discovery, in Imtiaz Ali's Highway. The film released in February 2014 to rave reviews and Alia's performance was singled out for praise.

Alia has also begun forging a parallel career singing playback. She made her debut as a crooner with the song Sooha Saha in Highway. Composer A R Rahman was so impressed with her rendition that he insisted that she should continue her vocal training at his institute. Some reports even suggested a future collaboration between the two.

On the same the day Highway released, the first look of Alia's next film 2 States was released on Twitter. The movie, produced by Karan Johar, is based on a bestselling novel written by Chetan Bhagat.

Alia created a stir when she invited the media to her engagement on Twitter. This event was later revealed to be the launch of the trailer of 2 States in which she plays a South Indian who falls in love with the Punjabi Arjun Kapoor.

Even as the songs from 2 States make a splash across TV screens and the internet, Alia is already shooting for her next project titled Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania, opposite her Student Of The Year co-star Varun Dhawan.

Outspoken Alia is officially single but is rumoured to be dating her 2 States hero Arjun Kapoor. She has previously been linked with both her Student Of The Year co-stars, Sidharth and Varun. Given how un-guarded she usually is in interviews, we're guessing Alia might soon out herself and Arjun.

Till then, happy birthday.