Don’t Be Shy: Why Is Alia Bhatt Nervous?

‘Fourteen years ago, I made my debut as an actor. And now, 14 years later, I am introducing four new actors and a debutante director. I am way more nervous than they are right now. I have butterflies in my stomach.’

IMAGE: Alia Bhatt and Shaheen Bhatt at the Don’t Be Shy trailer launch. Photograph: Panna Bandekar

Alia takes the producer’s chair

After the gloomier worlds of Darlings, Poacher and Jigra, Alia Bhatt takes a sunny turn with Don’t Be Shy.

A fittingly bright outing for her home banner named Eternal Sunshine, the upcoming OTT film is Alia’s fourth project as a producer and introduces four fresh faces.

At the trailer launch event in Mumbai on Friday afternoon, Alia described the film as a “coming-of-age rom-com” and made it clear that she isn’t acting in it.

“I love being an actor and being in front of the camera. But being a producer has another sort of fulfilment; it gives me another level of joy because we are involved in building a world and a story,” she explains.

IMAGE: Bianca Arora at the Don’t Be Shy trailer launch. Photograph: Panna Bandekar

The film stars Aarushi Bajaj, Ansh Duggal, Bianca Arora, Piyush Khati, and is helmed by debutant filmmaker Sreeti Mukerji.

Alia, who produces the film with sister Shaheen Bhatt, admits she was more nervous than the newcomers, adding that it took two years to build the project before they took it to the OTT platform.

“Fourteen years ago, I made my debut as an actor. And now, 14 years later, I am introducing four new actors and a debutante director. I am way more nervous than they are right now. I have butterflies in my stomach,” Alia says with a smile.

Tribute To Growing Up

IMAGE: Alia Bhatt and Shaheen Bhatt at the Don’t Be Shy trailer launch. Photograph: Panna Bandekar

Sreeti describes Don’t Be Shy as her tribute to the teenage years, saying the film grew out of her love for movies.

“Don’t Be Shy came from a place of missing the movies I watched growing up and movies I still return to when I want to feel safe, comforted, and entertained,” she says.

She adds the film is about being yourself, even when the fumbling years of growing up can feel overwhelming.

Staying true to the film’s college theme, the venue was dressed up like a college festival, complete with stalls, ice gola, candy floss and a Gen Z crowd as the audience.

Then, there was the Gen Z quiz.

It became a perfect moment for Alia, Shaheen, Sreeti to decode terms such as ‘aura farming’, ‘breadcrumbing’, ‘side quest’, ‘brainrot,’ and ‘ragebait’.

Alia’s answer to the last one produced the biggest laugh of the evening.

“Ragebait was what Shaheen used to do to me as a kid. She used to say to me that I came free with Parle-G!” Alia recalls, explaining how her sister used to tease her when she was four.

IMAGE: Piyush Khati at the Don’t Be Shy trailer launch. Photograph: Panna Bandekar

Youthful Love Triangle

IMAGE: Team Don’t Be Shy at the trailer launch event. Photograph: Panna Bandekar

The Don’t Be Shy trailer introduces Aarushi as 20-year-old Shyamili ‘Shy’ Das, who is convinced she has her future mapped out. Things begin to get messy, when Ansh and Piyush add to the romantic complications around Shy. Bianca Arora plays Tara, Shy’s bestie.

The trailer is packed with the nervous energy of college life, and has youtful vibe to it. Filmmaker Anurag Basu adds an unexpected veteran presence to the cast as Shy’s father, alongside Kunaal Roy Kapur and Anju Alva Naik.

Aarushi, who was also seen in Sushmita Sen’s gangster drama Aarya, says she was thrilled to get the opportunity to play the titular role.

“Playing a character so different from who I am was both challenging and exciting,” says Aarushi. “Stepping into Shy’s shoes pushed me out of my comfort zone in the best way. I wanted to give her everything I had and do justice to her journey.”

Don’t Be Shy premieres on Prime Video on September 25.