Famous director Mahesh Bhatt is the father of four children: Pooja, Rahul, Shaheen, and Alia. Alia and Shaheen are his daughters from his second marriage to Soni Razdan, while Pooja and Rahul are his children from his first marriage to Kiran Bhatt. Despite being step-sisters, Pooja and Alia have a very admirable bond. For those who don’t know, Alia and Pooja are close to their father Mahesh and differ in age by 21.
Mahesh Bhatt and his daughters, Pooja and Alia Bhatt, discussed the equation with each other in an interview with journalist Karan Thapar. Pooja responded beautifully when asked to clarify that her relationship with her father was far more special than Alia’s with him. Pooja stated that she is superior to my siblings and went on to say, “I think I had the privilege of knowing him in a manner that Alia, Shaheen, and Sunny never did. Because I knew him through a difficult phase—I saw him grapple with alcohol, I saw him give it up. And for me, that’s his greatest achievement. I think I have an edge over my siblings, not because I’ve worked with him, but I’ve seen him through the depths of despair, and I’ve seen him rise.”
During the interview, Pooja was questioned by the journalist on the controversial letters her father, Mahesh Bhatt, wrote to her when he was only 21 years old. Speaking on the same subject, Pooja revealed that the letters were sent five hours after Alia’s birth and questioned whether or not that made Alia feel envious. Pooja said, “Five hours after I was born to be precise… you don’t know this story, Alia? Oh, you are jealous suddenly because you didn’t get a letter?”
In any case, Alia Bhatt handled Pooja’s jab extremely well, acknowledging even that she was envious of their father, Mahesh Bhatt, for having done something so unique for his first kid. Alia stated, “Yes, I’m very jealous.”
Pooja elaborated on the letters by saying that her father had been drinking a couple of beers when he wrote them. She also mentioned that she was born during a period when her father was going through difficult times and revealed some poignant words that he had written for her in those letters. Pooja stated, “Well, he wrote me a letter five hours after I was born, and he was drunk on a few beers and that’s all he could afford. ‘Be truthful and be fearless for your part of divinity and not of sin’. And he said, that ‘You were born at a time when I’m a struggling individual and some say your mother brought me luck, some say you will. You can be anything that you want in this universe and you’re the heartbeat of this unfathomed universe’… and he signed off—‘Call me Mahesh, Papa… call me what you want’.”
In response to the question of whether Alia has a unique bond with her mother Soni Razdan, she revealed that she is more intimate with her mother than she is with her father. The actress revealed the reason behind this, saying that while her father was working on his films, her mother stayed at her side during her early years. Alia went on to say that she wished to offer her mother everything in the world since she is so protective of her: “Yeah, that’s true. I mean [dad] wasn’t around for obvious reasons—he was working and putting food on the table. But mom was always there. I can’t imagine my life without my mother because her presence is so felt. I do feel very protective of her because she’s very sweet and naive.”
Watch the full interview here:
