Learn English with Alia Bhatt’s Speech. Watch Alia Bhatt receive the TIME100 Impact Award and hear her speak about what it means to make an impact. Also, you can see her in an honest interview from the 2017 India Economic Summit. In it, she talks about her journey in Bollywood and what she thinks it takes to be successful at a young age. Don’t miss her inspiring message about embracing imperfections and being yourself to truly make a difference.
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“You have one life to live; do your work with passion and give your best.” Alia Bhatt
Alia Bhatt: Good evening. Thank you, time, for this honor. Honestly, to be awarded here tonight among some of the finest people in the world feels wonderfully overwhelming. I also feel a tiny bit of pressure, you know, pressure to say something intelligent, to be good, and really make an impact. I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to make an impact.
And I’ve been wondering whether if when I started out, I did so with the intention of making an impact. And the answer is yes. I mean, I think 10 years ago when I started working, all I thought about was how I would one day take over the world. How everyone everywhere would know who I am, and how hardworking, and talented, and intelligent, and bright, and flawless I am.
Really, I wanted to be perfect. And I wanted the world to know it. 10 years later, I’m receiving one of the most prestigious awards on this global platform. And I have no idea how I got here, or what I’ve done to deserve this. But what I do know is if it falls to me in any way to lead by example, be a role model, or make any kind of impact, I want to do it as human and as flawed away as possible.
Because after all these years, the thing I’ve realized is that it’s the flaws that make you. Perfection is boring. Like, really boring. So tonight, I want to take a moment with you all to celebrate my flaws along with my strengths. For example, I’m terrible at spelling, like really bad. But I do know what to say to someone who’s vulnerable.
I have no sense of geography, zero, and I do not get directions. But I have a deep sense of respect and regard for different cultures. My general knowledge is widely known to be weak. But my emotional intelligence is something that I worked really hard to cultivate. I have a tendency to be hard on myself with regards to my weight and my appearance. But I never say no to a French fry. Because, you know, YOLO.
Through my movies and my characters, I’ve tried to celebrate flawed people. Because at the end of the day, it’s the imperfections that make a character compelling. So what I’m trying to say is being yourself is truly the greatest impact that you can make. In the movies and in life, you do not have to be perfect.
You just have to bring everything you have, the lows, the highs, and the real things that we’re actually afraid of speaking about. There is no greater impact than being yourself. I want to end with a few thank yous. Thank you to you all for patiently listening to me. Thank you to my team for constantly being there for me.
Thank you to my family, my mom, for bringing me onto this planet, my father, my sister Shaheen, who has helped put my thoughts into words, my husband, Ranbir. I mean, I don’t know what. I need to give them separate award to genuinely put up with me on a daily basis. I am immensely proud to be here tonight as a representative of my country, a country that has built both me and my career.
India is a country that, at its core, values diversity above anything else. And it’s a song that I hope to sing all over the world. And lastly, when it comes to making an impact, I hope I can continue to do so in whatever way possible. But for now, tonight, this award has genuinely made an impact on me, me and my little one, who has relentlessly kicked me through this speech.
Thank you so much. Have a good night.
Karan Johar: You come from a film family and have achieved everything at such a young age. Today, at 24, is it too good, too soon as a phenomena, you think?
Alia Bhatt: I have to say that whenever people ask me about my achievements, Karan, about how you’re doing so well, how do you feel, you’re doing this, you’re doing that, to me, I’m just doing.
I have no idea of how well I’m doing and what that means for me and whether this is too good, too soon, or whether I’m going to burn out. I think that if I sit back and assess every step I take, then I’m going to be taking myself way too seriously. All I want to do is give a lot of heart into all my performances, into every character that I play.
And I want to be remembered for the movies that I’m a part of and the characters that I play, because that’s the kind of impact movies had on me as a child. So I want to be that impact on the younger generation and the older generation and everybody. So yeah, I never look at myself as a third person.
I’m just going with the flow, as they say. So I think definitely, initially, I was very vulnerable. And I was also very hungry to prove and make a point. And I want to say with age, but I don’t think I should say that since I’m 24. But maybe with experience and just as you said, I’ve been working since I’m 17.
But in the last two years, there just came a bit of a realization to me, and that is the only constant in life is change. So today, I may be getting a lot of love. Tomorrow, I won’t, maybe. Today, I may be getting a lot of hate. Tomorrow, I won’t, maybe. So some things are like some days, you may wake up and say that, OK, I wish I’ve been better at this, or I had better diction, I had better this.
I can always talk about what I don’t have and what I can do better. But instead of whining about how they’re comparing me to people, I can just better it. And I can just try to be the better version of myself. So definitely, I’m super detached from my work. And I don’t want to get too attached to even the person that I am today.
When people come up to me and say, you’re so inspiring and all of those things, and what I do for other people, I feel really happy. I feel grateful. I take a moment to remember that, OK, this is something that, this is what you really work for to make an impact. But then that instantly, I just snap out of it. And I just tell myself that this is not going to be there tomorrow.
Karan Johar: And as a young Indian woman, Alia, is there a sense of responsibility you have to your country, to other women who are inspired by you, to younger girls who feel like you are their role model? How much of that ethos really creeps into your thoughts when you take on a film or are on a public platform? How much of that are you conscious of?
Alia Bhatt: So when I take on a film, I don’t keep the audience in mind. And I don’t think I should as well, because then that would make my decisions very calculated and very boring. And I go with my gut, and I go with my heart. I like to promote the idea of people can make mistakes.
That is OK. And as a celebrity, I’m still a human being. I know what I do. And I really am not embarrassed of that, because if I don’t say I don’t know, how am I going to know? If I don’t ask the questions, how am I going to get the answers? Up until a particular time, I was constantly scared. And that was the time before I had failed.
I’ve done 10 films, and one has been not a good film, and it did not do well. Until that time, I was always really scared, very passionate, very obsessive. The minute that happened, it’s like my father told me, I became immortal again. So when you touch success, you feel like you’re immortal all of a sudden.
And that could happen to anybody, which is why people are constantly telling me, please keep your head on your shoulders. Don’t fly too high. And I was like, what are they saying? Why are they saying this? And then I realized that, OK, things can change. Your films cannot do well. You cannot do well. And suddenly, everything changed after that.
And I was just brought back to ground zero. And everything after that is not, I would not say detached, like I’m not passionate about my work, and I don’t feel like today, if I don’t have a good day at work, I’ll come back home, and I will be stressed out about it. I won’t be happy, and I’ll give 200% the next day.
But I can say I’m quite objective of the work that I do. And I go with my gut, and I try to play around. So if I overthink my steps, then it’s like you’re taking yourself too seriously, and that will show on screen. She thinks she’s a very good actor. But the minute I really, really believe in my partner and my character, that just gives me that kind of ease to play with it and just have fun with it.
Alia Bhatt
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