From Highway to Raazi, there is no stopping for Alia Bhatt from taking risks with her roles. Balancing between commercial and unconventional roles, Alia Bhatt has now taken on the role of an Indian spy in Raazi. Directed by Meghna Gulzar narrates the story of a Kashmiri woman who was persuaded to marry into a Pakistani family and go undercover as a spy during the Indo- Pak war in 1971. Alia Bhatt had to undergo a month of prep for Raazi. She learned proper language including Urdu, Morse code, and learned driving a Jonga jeep. According to Alia Bhatt, “I can join the RAW team, if they need me to right now, but no amount of prep can actually prepare you for what happens on set. It was emotionally draining. We shot the film within 48 days at a stretch without any breaks through 14-hour days. There was no time to ever not be the character“.
During the 1999 Kargil War, an army official recounted the story of a Kashmiri Muslim, married a Pakistani army officer to get advantage on them. She alone got secrets of the army including the Pakistani army’s plot to destroy and sink INS Vikrant. Keeping the her name a secret, he changed her name in the book to Sehmat Khan. As per Alia Bhatt, “When you are part of a true story, you automatically feel a sense of responsibility even though you have never really seen the real-life character. Once you crack the way this girl (Sehmat) spoke, everything is done for you. Because the way you speak is a very big part of your personality. I decided to start her off at the most basic level of niceness and then take her graph from there“.
Raazi is set in 1971 during the Indo-Pak war. It stars Vicky Kaushal as Alia’s husband and will release on 11th May 2018.
