Alia Bhatt has opened a window into her inner world with a letter written to her younger self. In a video created for Esquire India, the actor gently addresses the little girl she once was, sharing lessons shaped by time, experience, love, and self-discovery.
Alia begins by reassuring her younger self that dreaming is not a weakness but a strength that must be protected at all costs. She says, “Dear little me, I know you’re always dreaming. Please don’t stop doing that. The dreamer in you is your superpower, protect her fiercely. Take that ballet class, don’t listen to mumma, it’s not that far away. It will help you in your dance and posture.”
About her mother Soni and sister Shaheen and father Mahesh Bhatt
As the letter unfolds, Alia talks about her mother, actor Soni Razdan. With the clarity that comes from becoming a mother herself, she urges her younger self to be more expressive with love and gratitude. “Please praise mama’s cooking some more. Say it out loud. One day you’ll be a mother yourself and you’ll realise how much love went into everything she made and did for you, even on days you didn’t notice enough. So give her more love.”
Her thoughts then move to her sister, Shaheen Bhatt, as she encourages her younger self to be more present, patient, and affectionate with Shaheen. “Be nice to your sister, one day she’s going to be your best friend. Don’t brush her off or take her for granted. Give her more time, more attention, more love, you will be so grateful that you did,” she says.
Talking about her father, filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt, Alia said, “Spend time with Papa. One day he will offer you a film, not because of the result of the film but because you want to spend more time with him and those memories are going to be most wonderful memories of your life.”
Friendships, too, receive special attention. She adds, “Hold on to your friends, really hold on, life gets busy, work gets loud and those friendships are anchors, you need them more them you know.”
Alia Bhatt calls Ranbir Kapoor “best boy in the whole world”
Alia comforts her younger self over heartbreaks that once felt overwhelming. She hints at the kind of love that arrives when one least expects it. She then refers to her relationship with her husband Ranbir Kapoor calling him the “best boy in the whole world”. “Dear little me, please don’t cry over that stupid boy in high school, it’s not worth it. I promise you that one day, you’ll meet the best boy in the whole world. The one you’ve always secretly had a crush on and he’s going to love you with respect, comfort, peace and laughter, he will be your safest place, your best friend and he knows everything about you. You Know that thing you always wanted, someone to read your mind, he will do that for you.”
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Alia asks her younger self to enjoy life
Encouraging herself to live more freely, Alia adds, “Travel, be adventurous, say yes more often because you’re going to be turn into a homebody, not wanting to go out, so be adventurous now.”
She follows this with a reminder to enjoy life without guilt, “Watch movie till 2am, eat chips straight out of packet, eat everything that you want because you will spend most part of your life being very strict with yourself, always dieting, always working out. And yes you will love working out, at this moment it seems that you don’t want to get out of th couch but you’re going to love taking care of yourself and you are going to love padel tennis.”
Alia speaks candidly about failure, reframing it not as something to fear but as a necessary part of growth. She says, “You don’t have a fear of failure, you will not be scared of failure, you will be scared of not trying and remember you are gonna fail a lot and you are gonna learn a lot.” She adds, “Choose your work honestly, make mistakes, it is all a part of it.”
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Alia Bhatt on Raha
One of the most touching parts of the letter comes when Alia speaks about motherhood and her daughter, Raha. She shares, “You will be going to have good and bad days but you are mostly going to have grateful days and that dream of taking care of mini you that comes true. You’re going to have the most beautiful daughter in the world and your heart will grow in ways that you cannot imagine.”
“She’s also going to be a little lawyer, so prep up,” she adds on a light-hearted note.
She concludes the letter with a message of self-acceptance: “Enjoy being yourself, stay curious, continue being you because you brought me to me and that’s a really good place to be.”
Alia Bhatt on buzz around her relationship with Ranbir
Earlier, during her interview with Esquire, Alia Bhatt opened up about how she and Ranbir Kapoor navigate the constant buzz surrounding their relationship. She explained, “The noise doesn’t reach us. Because it’s not real. They’re responding to three-and-a-half seconds or seven seconds of what they’re seeing. We’ve been together for seven years. That’s way more seconds than what people are commenting on.”
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Alia also shared that while she and Ranbir occasionally find humour in some of the memes circulating online, most of the commentary simply fades into the background and doesn’t register in any meaningful way.
She added, “Even the B of bother doesn’t enter our life. If you’re in a room of fifty people, maybe only four actually care about you. The rest might be thinking terrible things, but you can’t hear them. Is my reality changing? No. Is my family dynamic changing? Not at all. Am I living my dream? Yes. Do I go to sleep every day with a grateful heart? One hundred percent.”
Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor got married on April 14, 2022, at their Mumbai home. Later that year, on November 6, 2022, the couple welcomed their daughter, Raha.
