Actor Alia Bhatt has shared an appreciation post, on the occasion of crossing 50 million followers on Instagram. Alia had been on the receiving end of sustained online attacks after the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, whose fans believed her to be a representative of Bollywood’s alleged ‘insider’ culture. Alia Bhatt, in her Instagram post, wrote, "Today is appreciation day.. thank you my family.. my people.. you have today given me 50M love.. I love you ALL to the stars and beyond. I'd like to take this moment to share something I’ve learned over the last couple of months.. social media connects us.. it excites us and yes it also entertains us.. but IT IS NOT US."
Alia Bhatt further wrote that nobody can make you feel any lesser, or greater, at the touch of a button. She wrote, "Even when I was at 5, I5 or 50K love I was as happy and as grateful as I am today. I truly truly truly believe that our lives are made up of the relationships we cultivate with people and most importantly OURSELVES...no one has the right to make you feel any lesser or greater by the touch of a button. "So as I said, today is appreciation day. I would like you all to take a moment and appreciate yourselves.. appreciate your mind,your body,your heart and your soul!! Because no like or dislike.. no follow or unfollow..no troll or poll can take who YOU are away from yourself. Okay bye." Alia Bhatt was last seen in Sadak 2 along with Sanjay Dutt and Aditya Roy Kapur. The film was directed by Alia Bhatt's father, Mahesh Bhatt, and marked his comeback into the director's chair after several years.
Post Sushant's death, Alia's last release helmed by her father was slammed online with viewers ganging up and downvoting its trailer to make it the most ‘disliked’ movie trailer on YouTube. Alia’s sister, Shaheen, took to Instagram in July and shared screengrabs of the hateful messages being sent their way. Their mother, Soni Razdan, blocked comments on her Instagram profile to protect herself from the abuse. Alia will next be seen in Brahmastra, along with her beau Ranbir Kapoor. Amitabh Bachchan also plays a pivotal role in the film and Mouni Roy plays the antagonist. Brahmastra, first part of a trilogy, is backed by Karan Johar's Dharma Productions. Alia also has Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Gangubai Kathiawadi in the pipeline. She will also start shooting for SS Rajamouli's RRR next month.