Alia Bhatt owns 2023. She just won the National Award for Gangubai Kathiawadi; her Hollywood debut, Gal Gadot-starrer Heart of Stone, is topping the charts on Netflix; her Bollywood release, Rocky aur Rani kii Prem Kahaani (RRPK), has already earned over Rs 310 crore worldwide; and her kidswear brand, Ed-A-Mamma, is all set to be acquired by Reliance Brands Pvt Ltd for Rs 300-350 crore.
She is all of 30, but her net worth is reportedly skyrocketing at nearly Rs 520 crore. Unlike most of her peers, who spend years before diversifying their earnings, Alia took just about a decade to put her entrepreneurial foresight to good use. Since her Bollywood debut in 2012, she has launched a production house, a clothing company, and is an investor in several startups, whose causes she resonates with. Today, Alia Bhatt is a brand in herself.
“One of the top-billed stars, her remuneration per film is anywhere between Rs 10 to 15 crore. She is the biggest crowd-puller of her generation, and ranks among the most successful female stars in the last 20 years. Her success ratio is an astonishing 90 per cent, which makes her the No. 1 actress in India in terms of box-office success,” says trade analyst Sumit Kadel. In the past year alone, she has starred in some of the highest-grossing films. For RRPK, the actor was reportedly paid Rs 10 crore. She made nearly the same amount with Brahmastra and RRR, where she had a cameo. She is said to have charged Rs 20 crore for Sanjay Leela Bhasali’s Gangubai Kathiawadi (2022).
But Alia’s empire is more than just her paycheck. In 2021, she launched her production house, Eternal Sunshine, and co-produced the critically acclaimed Darlings (2022) with Gauri Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment. It was sold to Netflix for Rs 80 crore, with the actor raking in profit both as an actor and a producer. “Though acting is my priority, I felt I had made some money and wanted to invest in something of my own and see it turn into a brand,” Alia says.
Turning producer was only the beginning for the entrepreneur, who ranks fourth in the 2022 list of India’s most valued celebrities with a brand value of $100 million (Rs 800 crore), according to a 2022 report by Duff and Phelps. Over the last three years, she has invested in brands she relates to. “Money does not attract me to any brand. It is their story,” she says. To that end, she launched Ed-A-Mamma in 2020. “I realised there was a genuine dearth of homegrown kidswear brands. I put in the money, put together a team of ninjas, and got going,” the actor says. It also expanded into maternity wear during the time of the actor’s own pregnancy last year.
In 2020, she also became a stakeholder in beauty brand Nykaa’s parent company, FSN E-Commerce Ventures, with an initial investment of `4.95 crore. In a year’s time, it grew over 10 times to `54 crore after the company went public. She is also an investor in Phool.Co, a wellness startup cofounded by two IIT-Kanpur students, which converts floral waste into charcoal-free luxury incense products, and Stylecracker, a personal stylist platform.
Alia bagged Time’s 100 Most Influential Award in Singapore in 2022. She is perhaps the only star kid whose exemplary craft has overshadowed the nepotism debate. Since her debut in Karan Johar’s Student of the Year (SOTY), she has done 25 films, and only two—Kalank and Shaandaar—bombed. But her transformation from the rich brat in SOTY to a victim of sexual abuse a year later in Highway established her both as an actor and a star. “She was too young to have that kind of empathy. I was moved by the depth of her emotional understanding,” recalls director Imtiaz Ali. Alia has continued to strike this balance between sheer masala films and thought-provoking stories throughout her career––for every Humpty Sharma ki Dulhania, there’s an Udta Punjab; for every 2 States, there is a Dear Zindagi; and for every Rocky aur Rani, there’s a Raazi.
Alia is a digital diva too. On Instagram, she has a following of over 79 million. Reports say the actor charges anywhere between `85 lakh and `1 crore for collaborations. Her appearance at fashion’s most gate-kept event, the Met Gala, proved that her brand appeal transcends across geographies. In May 2023, she was appointed as luxury brand Gucci’s global Indian brand ambassador. Closer home, she is the face of brands such as Cadbury, MakeMyTrip, Caprese, Titan Raga, and Phillips among others. She reportedly charges Rs 1.5 crore to Rs 2.5 crore per day for endorsement shoots.
Shah Rukh Khan, after working with her in Dear Zindagi, confessed that she was “too good, too soon”. The statement rings true also for her entrepreneurial acumen. How much success is too much success? Alia Bhatt wouldn’t know. She’s only getting started.