Alia signs Meghna Gulzar's Kashmir film

'The subject is controversial, very controversial.'
'But then Alia is Mahesh Bhatt's daughter.'
Subhash K Jha tells us about Alia Bhatt's dilemma before signing Meghna Gulzar's next.

Alia Bhatt was in two minds about doing Meghna Gulzar's new film which is said to be based on the Kashmir problem.

Source very close to Alia confirms that she has said yes to Meghna whose last film Talvaar was a critical and commercial success.

"It was a dilemma for Alia. The subject is controversial, very controversial. But then Alia is Mahesh Bhatt's daughter. Controversies don't bother her at the end of the day," says the source close to Alia.

Alia's father apparently had a hand in her decision.

"He convinced her that doing issue-based subjects once in a while along with her state-of-the-art mainstream films was the right career move. Bhattsaab himself balanced an Arth with a Duplicate," the source said.

"Alia has done a hard hitting Udta Punjab along with Badrinath Ki Dulhania and a Student Of The Year with Dear Zindagi. She will now plunge into Meghna Gulzar's film," the source added.

There was another reason for Alia not saying yes to Meghna immediately.

"Alia had allotted all her dates from July to Ayan Mukerji's superhero film Dragon with Ranbir Kapoor. Now that has been put on hold. Alia has the time to do another film," the source said.

"Meghna and she have already started spadework. Alia doesn't want to get into Kashmir without knowing its history. She has a lot of reading to do," her friend pointed out.

It is fascinating to see the daughters of two of Hindi cinema's most sorted and lucid minds coming together for a film.