Alia Bhatt sets her sights on Hollywood

Indian film star Alia Bhatt says she wants to experiment with acting in Hollywood and a web series for a platform like Netflix after four meteoric years in Bollywood. The 23-year-old says she would also like to work in Lollywood, Tollywood and even Nollywood, referring to the Pakistani, South Indian and Nigerian film industries and admires Netflix for its variety of content and global accessibility.
"Definitely Hollywood is something, a destination that you really reach after, maybe a couple of years after kind of finding your feet in Indian cinema, in Bollywood," Bhatt told Reuters in an interview.
"I'm going to step into it maybe a little slower, but definitely I have plans."
She is following a well-worn path, with Priyanka Chopra and Irrfan Khan already making their mark in America. Chopra, who stars in the television series "Quantico", has also bagged a role in the upcoming "Baywatch" film.
Bhatt, who has just seven films under her belt, said she admired the work of Hollywood actress Jennifer Lawrence.
"Jennifer Lawrence is somebody I really look up to because I really like the kind of choices she makes. She'll do the 'Hunger Games' but then she'll also do the 'Silver Linings Playbook'," she said.
"So I probably want to start with like a 'Silver Linings Playbook', something more where there's more scope for performance, you know, because I feel like that's where I'll really learn."
Bhatt's most recent role was in "Utda Punjab", a crime drama which looks at the issue of drugs in India's Punjab region, and was widely celebrated for her performance in the film in which she also sang.
"You can say acting's my husband and singing is my boyfriend. It's a long-term commitment with my acting. Singing is something that I'm really, really fond of, but I don't know how far I can take that in my life," Bhatt said.
Her father is the renowned filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt and while she says it has been difficult to shake off her father's legacy, she feels she is starting to be recognised on her own merit.
Upcoming films include "Dear Zindagi", which stars Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan, of whom Bhatt is a big fan.