5 min readNew DelhiMay 28, 2026 02:07 PM IST
Mahesh Bhatt’s oldest daughter, Pooja Bhatt, started her career in the late 1980s, and over two decades later, his youngest daughter, Alia Bhatt, stepped in front of the camera. In a new interview, Pooja described Alia as an “upgraded” version of herself, and added that Alia’s daughter Raha will be an even more “upgraded model.” Pooja also discussed Alia’s stardom and said that she knows “how to play” the game that one is meant to play to navigate through Bollywood and added that she does it “marvellously.”
‘Alia Bhatt is very astute’
In a chat with Vickey Lalwani, Pooja said that there can be no comparison between her and Alia, and shared, “Alia and I are very different from each other. I have had my time. This is her time, and she has certain attributes, and she has a certain way of navigating this business that I didn’t have. She is very astute. That game you are meant to play, she knows how to play it, and she does it marvellously.”
Alia Bhatt (left) with father Mahesh Bhatt and sister Pooja Bhatt. (Photo: Pooja Bhatt/Instagram)
Pooja praised Alia’s film choices and the directors she has worked with in her career so far and said, “I am talking about the choices she has made as an actor, the filmmakers she has chosen to work with, the hours that she put in with regards to rehearsing.”
She added, “Her choices as a human being, whether she chooses to speak or not speak, show her true self to the world; that’s her business. I am not here to tell her or anybody else how to lead their life.” Recalling what she said at Shaheen Bhatt’s book launch in 2019, Pooja said, “I said this at Shaheen’s book launch. I said the reason you are more successful is because you know exactly what to share and what not to share.”
‘Raha is born to be an actor’
Pooja then implied that Alia and Ranbir Kapoor’s daughter might follow in her parents’ footsteps and said, “Raha, Alia, me… I am not talking about Shaheen because she is not in that stream of acting. When you buy a new phone, you upgrade to a phone with more features. So I would like to believe that she is an upgraded model and there will be an even more upgraded model with her daughter when she decides to be an actress.”
When asked if Raha, who is 3-years-old, will be an actor like her parents, Pooja said, “I think she is born to be one. Unless she becomes a NASA scientist… I don’t know. If you look at that child, she is riveting and look at the genes.” Raha’s father is actor Ranbir Kapoor whose great-grandfather was one of the early stars of Hindi cinema. Since then, his family has been in the movies and their family is often regarded as the ‘first family of Hindi cinema’.
Alia has previously said that she wishes that Raha becomes an athlete. She told Femina, “I wish for her to actually be an athlete. She’s so competitive and she’s so athletic. She’s only three, but she really jumps around like a bee in a bonnet.”
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Talking about Raha, Pooja added, “There’s a spark. When she walks into a room, everybody pales in comparison. Your eye only wants to rest on her.” But, she also mentioned that the “national obsession with her is a bit scary. You need to allow children to grow up.” She also brought in the nepotism debate and said, “When they have this nepotism talk, I say on one hand you have this nepotism debate and on the other you only want news on Raha. You chant her name when Ranbir and Alia go to a stadium. I mean, c’mon, aren’t you being a bit hypocritical yourselves?”
Alia and Ranbir introduced Alia to the world in 2023 when they brought her in front of the cameras during the annual Christmas lunch hosted by the Kapoor family. However, they later requested the paparazzi to stop photographing their young daughter. Since then, Alia has also stopped posting Raha’s pictures on social media. Fans got to see a glimpse of Raha when Alia and Ranbir took her to a cricket match in March 2026.
