Alia Bhatt
Alia Bhatt has strived for excellence in everything she has pursued.
As an actor, she has brought depth and gravitas to a host of characters that demonstrated her versatility and panache. Her award-winning performances include Highway, Udta Punjab, Raazi, Dear Zindagi, Gully Boy, and Darlings to name a few. In 2023 she won her first National Film Award for Gangubai Kathiawadi.
As a producer, her first film, Darlings, became the second most-watched non-English content on Netflix worldwide for two weeks.
As an entrepreneur, she created Ed-a-Mamma, a brand of conscious clothing for children to instill a love of nature in them.
She has managed a rare balance between critical acclaim and box-office love. In the last two years alone, every theatrical release of hers has featured in the top five films of the year by box office.
The world has taken notice of her talent and she made her Hollywood debut this year with Heart of Stone.
Following her successful debut at the MET Gala 2023, Alia became the first global ambassador from India for Gucci.
She is also Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group's first ever global face from India.
Alia is among the top five Instagram accounts in India. She is a recipient of the TIME 100 Impact Award and has been featured in the Forbes 30 Under 30 as well as the Fortune List of 50 Most Powerful Women in Indian Business.
Other movies
SANTOSH
Director: Sandhya Suri
When Santosh’s husband, a policeman in a rural district in North India, is killed in a riot, the widow can only keep their home if she takes his job. Eager to succeed, she shows more determination than is usual among the misogynist male police when a low-caste girl is reported missing and then turns up dead. A charismatic senior woman officer, Inspector Sharma, is duly drafted in to head the murder investigation, becoming Santosh’s mentor. Success for women, however, generally means showing they can bend the rules as flagrantly as the men, where survival always comes at huge personal cost. A fascinating police procedural, focusing on the relationships within the force rather than crimes or culprits, the film is an investigation into deep-rooted systemic corruption.
EAST OF NOON
Director: Hala Elkoussy
Stuck in a sandy enclave in the middle of nowhere, aspiring musician Abdo divides his time between digging graves and creating music using household implements. Along with his Nunna, he is plotting his escape to a wider world while scheming to survive the everyday tyranny of the enclave boss, Master Shawky. A story that is very much about the power of story-telling, with some of the flavour of the Arabian Nights, the evocatively titled East of Noon is shot largely in black and white. This surface beauty gives its familiar theme of youthful revolt a surreal, fantastical quality, allowing ideas that would otherwise be taboo to float free.
BLACK DOG
Director: Guan Hu
While China buzzes in anticipation of the Beijing Olympics, Lang returns from a decade in prison to his home town to find it largely deserted, its crumbling concrete blocks being torn down to make way for a new industrial city. The exodus of humans means that the area is now overrun with stray dogs; Lang, needing a job, joins a hastily assembled extermination team supposed to round them up but, when a dog suspected of having rabies adopts him, he realizes his real mission is to save the animals, including the ones at the nearly deserted local zoo.. In a riveting, almost wordless performance, Eddie Peng shows Lang recover his humanity, even as the landscape around him becomes increasingly desolate.
In-Conversation with Michael Douglas
Director: Michael Kirk Douglas
Celebrating over 50 years of experience in theatre, film and television, Michael Douglas became a renowned actor starring in the hit television series, The Streets of San Francisco, earning him three Emmy nominations for his leading role. Transitioning into independent film production, Douglas secured the rights to the critically acclaimed One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975), which won five Academy Awards including Best Picture. Known for his keen ability to select impactful and provocative projects that reflect changing trends and public concerns, Douglas has been involved in influential films such as The China Syndrome (1979) and Traffic (2000), along with box-office hits like Romancing the Stone (1984) and Fatal Attraction (1987).
