Alia Bhatt was born on March 15, 1993 in Mumbai to Mahesh Bhatt and Soni Razdan. Both parents are well known personalities of the movie making industry. Alia Bhatt has made a strong impression on her fans and the critics. Her naïve quality and the freshness she brings to the character is very infectious. Karan Johar auditioned 400 girls before casting Alia Bhatt in Student of the Year Just when you thought star kids had it easy. Alia had to battle it out among 400 other aspiring actresses to land the lead in SOTY She paints like a dream She doesn’t just sing like a dream, she is also great at creating charcoal paintings. Her bollywood debut wasn’t Student of the Year Alia Bhatt made her Bollywood debut in 1999, when she was just 6 years old, in Sangharsh. She played the younger version of Preity Zinta’s character. That given the choice, she’d have made her Bollywood debut with Dil Hai Ki Maanta Nahi or Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke Biology however wasn’t on her side and the actress had to wait till she grew old enough and subsequently made a glittering debut with Student of the Year. That she had to drop over 16 kilogrammes for Student of the Year No silver spoon for the pampered Bhatt princess; the actress had to battle it out among other four hundred other strugglers to land the role of Shanaya which was offered to her by Karan Johar on the condition that she drop the flab.