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Alia Bhatt: The art of sniffing out good stories


- Alia is the daughter of a filmmaker like Mahesh Bhatt. Alia has inherited the sense of discerning good content. It will not be surprising if this number one heroine of Bollywood gets fame as a producer in future.

This Lea Bhatt has a deep sense of cinema. There is no question. Apart from that, how can she survive for years as the number one heroine of Bollywood? Today, she has become the mother of a cute baby, but her stardom has not changed at all. Alia sniffs good content. Anyway, she is the daughter of a filmmaker like Mahesh Bhatt. Now Alia has become a producer herself. The film 'Darlings', released directly on Netflix in 2022, was the production house's first presentation. He also acted in this film along with Shefali Shah and Vijay Verma. Now producer Alia's second offering has come in front of the audience. That is, a web series called 'Poacher'.

Poacher means hunter in simple language. Gajrajas are brutally killed for ivory trafficking in Kerala. This is the point at the heart of the show. Alia has joined it as an executive producer. The show is directed by Emmy Award winner Richie Mehta. Richie is a Canadian writer-director, whose name speaks of superduper shows like 'Delhi Crime'. 'Poacher' is a Malayalam crime drama. Based on a true story, the show exposes the largest ivory trafficking racket. It stars actors from the South who are relatively unknown to us like Namisha Sanjayan, Dibyendu Bhattacharya and Roshan Mathew.

About this investigative thriller, Richie Mehta says, 'In 2015, while I was shooting a documentary, I came across a video footage of a raid on ivory poachers. I contacted the Wildlife Trust and inquired about the footage. After doing some research I came to know about Wildlife Crime Fighters. I was fascinated by the struggle of these people. Well, the result is this series. 'Poacher' is a dramatization of true events. The actors have done a better job than I expected in every episode.'

Alia Bhatt is going crazy about this show. She says, 'Richie met me in 2022 when I was pregnant. During a meeting, he narrated the script of 'Poacher' to me. I was pleasantly surprised to find that each episode was based on true events. This was my response, not as an executive producer, but as a lay person. The shooting was already done so I could watch the episodes of the show. The show is so interesting that I could not take my eyes off the screen. I was emotionally shaken watching this show. I then decided to join this project.'

Acting in a show like 'Poacher' is not easy. Talking about how he prepared for his role, Roshan Mathew says, 'The person on whom my character is based works at the Wildlife Trust of India. He is also a native of Kerala like me. Our dialects are also very similar so we have a good tuning. After my first conversation with him, I suggested to Richie that we should give this character a personal touch and for that we should get to know this gentleman intimately, understand his thoughts. Characterization from above will not be fun. Richie agreed to this so I prepared for the role with the same vision. I tried to get to know this gentleman thoroughly. Know what is the root of their passion, what gives them satisfaction.'

Versatile actor Dibyendu plays a character named Neil Banerjee in 'Pochar'. Sharing his experience, he said, 'The script of the show has been written after a lot of research, so the process of its making also turned out to be fantastic. In 'Poacher' I play the role of a field director of the Kerala Forest Department. My job is to lead the team. I have done many different roles in my career, but 'Poacher' will be very special for me. While reading the script I was so engrossed in it that I couldn't escape without doing this series. This story will move you. You go through feelings of anger, frustration, grief, helplessness and hope while watching all this.'

It seems, another title called 'Pochar' is about to be added to Alia Bhatt's resume. The show is streamed on Amazon Prime. Alia, by the way, has wrapped up the shooting of her upcoming action film 'Jigra'. Vedang Raina, whom you saw in 'Archies', is his co-actor in this film. The film is directed by Vasan Bala. FYI Alia is also the producer of 'Jigra'.

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