Bollywood stars today, they are just like us. After wrapping a hectic two-day cover shoot, we are on a wobbly seaplane, flying over the luminous waters of Maldives, when actor Sidharth Malhotra nudges me. On his smartphone is a video of a truant little monk who keeps nodding off while meditating—it’s in the same chuckle-inducing vein of cat and baby clips we routinely see on 9gag.com

To his right is his Kapoor & Sons co-star, Alia Bhatt, who has taken comfort in her ultimate travel companion—a time-worn pillow—to catch some extra winks. To passengers around, guests from Four Seasons Resort at Landaa Giraavaru, we could be mistaken for any other bunch of young adults on vacation. But it’s only because I’m with two young stars who are keen on keeping things on the low. Two days ago, we arrived at this castaway paradise that is 99 per cent water. It was their first time here and, like any curious tourist, Bhatt was elated at the sight the seaplane afforded. At 4,500ft, you can see oval-shaped landforms haloed by lagoons and reefs in the turquoise sea. It’s so spectacular a sight that, like Bhatt, you can’t help but remove your sunglasses to confirm it isn’t an illusion.

A day later, the Brothers actor joined us on set, where he too had a first-of-its-kind moment when Anaita Shroff Adajania, Vogue’s fashion director, determined to catch the last of the fading evening light, convinced him to take shield in a human changing room on the beach. “I was butt-naked, changing behind four women holding towels—definitely not something I’ve done before,” he says.

Real deal
The duo has a shared history. In 2012 they made their first film together, Karan Johar’s high-school drama, Student Of The Year. And this month, they come together in Kapoor & Sons.

In their low-key airport attire—Bhatt, bare of accoutrements in a red checkered shirt, denim shorts and shiny shoes that read ‘Not Basic’, and Malhotra in a pair of jeans and T-shirt—they don’t possess the affected air associated with yesteryear stars. They travel without the glamorous trappings that their preceding generation finds indispensable: there are no beefy guards around us, no encroaching publicists hovering while I interview, and absolutely no world-weary attitude. For now, it seems they are okay playing their roles as rising stars for a little while longer.

At regular intervals, Bhatt calls her mom to talk about the same banalities I share with mine—what she ate and how she’s feeling today. On another day, when it’s time for dinner, she forfeits room service to eat with the crew. “Why would I want to sit alone and eat when there are a bunch of interesting people eating outside?” she asks, delicately spooning her soup.

Sometimes they keep it so real, they can fool you into believing they are one of us. But train a camera lens on the telegenic couple and you’ll see them transform.

Their chemistry is combustible. They tease the lens like pros. But as the sweltering equatorial heat makes its presence felt, an exasperated and sunburnt Bhatt, in a pastel Shivan & Narresh swimsuit, reveals that the angelic face comes with a ferocious bite. When photographer Luis Monteiro urges her to stop frowning and give his lens a sexy stare, she retorts, “I’m not going to be sexy for you. I’m sexy and then I’m grumpy. That’s me.”

She can be the movie star and the girl next door—she’s a stunning actor with multiple endorsements who, like us, has her cheat days. Bhatt’s appeal lies in this multi-faceted spirit.

Moody, spontaneous, fresh and untutored, Bhatt truly has no contemporaries in our industry. She’s more Jennifer Lawrence—the sort who falls headlong at the Academy Awards, only to pick herself back again with a laugh. In 2014, after her ditzy moment on Koffee With Karan inspired a million memes, the resilient actor survived the snickers to bounce back with a fitting answer for her trolls. The comedy group All India Bakchod’s (AIB) Genius Of The Year video turned the tide and made her a viral sensation. And in her willingness to spoof herself, she sent one clear message that Bollywood rarely acknowledges: I know you’ve been talking about me, and I really don’t care. In fact, I think it’s funny too.

As members of this hyper-connected millennium, the two actors know they need to champion social media to stay ahead in the precarious online game, where one false move can be broadcasted to millions in the blink of an eye. Though both Malhotra and Bhatt claim they never Google themselves (“Google is, like, for oldies. Instagram is the new Google,” says Bhatt), they value digital validation from fans on various other platforms. While Malhotra recently made his Instagram debut, managing to reach the one-million- followers mark in less than 100 posts, Bhatt, an Insta-fiend, has almost five times as many. Their feed, like ours, is bursting with selfies, good eats and gym stories. What makes them appear so accessible and open is that they give their fans a glimpse of everything from their pets to their pet peeves. “It’s a generational thing. People our age are always on the phone—Instagraming, Tweeting, Whatsapping, and because we are in this world we have to cater to it,” says Malhotra.

Two’s company
On the precipice of stardom, they are still new to most things—success, adulation and unforgiving media scrutiny. At times, they are carefully guarded about their relationship, only hinting at their growing friendship on the sets of Kapoor & Sons. At other times, they seem to have no censor: “I always found him [Sid] hot,” says Bhatt. This only reinstates their ambivalence about living in the public eye: they can’t seem to make up their mind about whether to talk about their relationship or not.

If the vociferous Bhatt has a feminist agenda in mind (actor Katrina Kaif once toldVogue how ticked off she was being called “so-and-so’s girlfriend”), she can rest assured. If anything, Malhotra is more likely to be called “Alia’s boyfriend.”

While they won’t say if they are dating now, we know that romance wasn’t on their mind when they were debutants: “During Student…, he treated me like a kid, and I didn’t like that,” recalls the now-22-year-old Bhatt. “You were 17! Anything 18 and under is illegal” says Malhotra, to which Bhatt retorts, “So? I wasn’t asking you to marry me. I was asking you to be a regular friend.”

As their careers began to soar—Bhatt with hits like Highway (2014) and 2 States (2014) and Malhotra having found his feet with films like Ek Villain (2014) and Hasee Toh Phasee—so did their friendship. “I could feel a connection after she came for the Hasee Toh Phasee screening. She was very expressive after seeing the film, and I found that quite warm,” says Malhotra, who lauded Bhatt’s performance in 2 States.

They may be in the throes of carefully chiselling their craft, but they also seem unafraid to make an ingénue’s mistake. “Sid and I, it’s not like we don’t hang out. We go to parties together, visit friends together and move around openly. But we are not trying to project an image here, or trying to talk about our personal lives in the open. That’s not what we are here for,” she clarifies. “When you go out and talk about your relationship openly, there are repercussions,” she adds. Malhotra jumps in to finish her sentence: “Eventually what you put in front of the media becomes material.”

New beginnings
With their mild-mannered, goody two-shoes image, neither has set the tabloids on fire. But they are anything but a bore. As emblems of the new generation of Bollywood, the duo are consciously shunning catfights and other disconcerting media baits by highlighting their camaraderie with the cool set—directors Ayan Mukerji, Abhishek Varman and Shakun Batra (their Kapoor & Sons director who also directed Bhatt in the AIB video). “There may not be sensational catfights but there are a lot of rubbish stories in the news on and off,” says Bhatt. The last thing she read about herself was a story linking her to Ranbir Kapoor. “I read that I was the cause of the Ranbir-Katrina breakup,” she fumes. “It was so ridiculous that I didn’t think it needed clarification.”

This month, as she turns 23, Bhatt has another first coming her way—moving into her own home, located a few minutes from her parents’. Designed by interior designer Richa Bahl, who also designed Kangana Ranaut’s Bandra flat, she can’t stop talking about it. “The vibe is that of a New York loft—really cosy and not too modern. The walls are all exposed bricks and the windows are boxy. I’m trying to get a retro Smeg refrigerator and a lot of neon signs for the walls, so it’ll have a cool vibe,” she says.

The year 2016 is collectively their busiest till date. After Kapoor & Sons, Bhatt prepares for Udta Punjab and Shhuddhi and is currently shooting Gauri Shinde’s new film alongside Shah Rukh Khan. Malhotra, on the other hand, is readying for Baar Baar Dekho and the sequel to Bang Bang opposite Jacqueline Fernandez. As the duo—one the daughter of a Bollywood bigwig, the other a son of a merchant navy officer—learn to navigate the media bubble today, they may not reveal their status outright. But if they were to, it would be a Bollywood script up for grabs.

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