Alia — the butt of all jokes

Alia thinks the jokes are funny and all she can do is laugh at herself. PHOTO: FILE

The latest memes to take the Indian social media by storm features the young diva Alia Bhatt. The Internet is flooded with jokes questioning the actor’s intellect. This started with Alia’s appearance on Karan Johar’s talk show Koffee with Karan with her Student of the Year co-stars, Varun Dhawan and Sidharth Malhotra. When the trio was asked to name the President of India, Varun said Manmohan Singh, Alia replied Prithviraj Chauhan and Sidharth was the only one who answered Pranab Mukherjee correctly.

The clip of Alia’s answer went viral and soon a page of Alia jokes was created on Facebook. Within a day, it saw around 100,000 likes, reported Times of India.

When the Bhatt family was contacted to get an insight on how they are coping with the online onslaught, the actor’s mother Soni Razdan said, “I think Alia signed up for praise and criticism both when she signed her first film, Student Of The Year.”

Alia however is questioning why her friend Varun, who also answered incorrectly, has been let off the hook. “Varun ko target nahin kiya gaya (Varun hasn’t been targeted). He and I have even spoken about this, maybe his answer was inaudible while mine was not,” reasoned Alia. “He got his redemption for his faux pas in a recent interview when he went on to rattle off the last five Presidents of India correctly. I don’t think I’ll get a second chance.” I can laugh at myself. Yes, the jokes are funny,” added the 21-year-old actor.

Alia’s father Mahesh Bhatt said that his daughter is being targeted because all the films she has starred in so far have all been very successful. “Success has a price tag, it doesn’t come for free. Alia has tasted phenomenal success before turning 21. When you become a marketable commodity, such jokes are an occupational hazard. Bigger stars, who have been in the business for years have not been spared. Even Prime Ministers have been targeted by the amusement seeking lot in the virtual world,” said Mahesh.

“If somebody is making Alia a part of their entertainment, how can she object to it unless it crosses the limits of decency?” added Mahesh.