Brand Alia Bhatt, at valuation of $68.1 mn, zooms on the highway

The recently released Kroll (earlier Duff and Phelps) Celebrity Brand Valuation Report 2021 saw Bollywood actor Alia Bhatt at the fourth position — ahead of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Amitabh Bachchan, Deepika Padukone and also the “bhai” of Indian cinema, Salman Khan. In one year, she had jumped two slots.

At $68.1 million, Bhatt is ranked the most valuable brand among all women in Bollywood, and at 29, the youngest celebrity in the Top 10.

With two releases already this year — Gangubai Kathiawadi, which crossed the Rs 100-crore mark globally, and RRR last week — Bhatt has had a busy three months. A lot more is lined up: films like Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani, Jee Le Zaraa and Brahmastra.

The actor, who holds a British passport, is also slated to make her Hollywood debut alongside Gal Gadot in the spy film Heart of Stone, to be produced by Netflix.

A steady stream of brand endorsements has accompanied Bhatt’s meteoric rise. “Alia’s jump has been quite stellar. The brand portfolio she endorses is much bigger than last year and she has been able to manage her earlier brands as well,” says Aviral Jain, managing director, Kroll. “She has also brought up her endorsement fee by 20-40 per cent across the board,” he adds.

With the addition of mCaffeine on March 22, Bhatt is now the face of almost 25 brands that include names like Lays and Manyavar Mohey.

“Alia is a perfect representative of this generation, one whom they have seen evolve from a young star to a Forbes 30 Under 30 millennial icon,” says Vaishali Gupta, co-founder and head of brand marketing, mCaffeine, on collaborating with the actor. “She is the epitome of creative growth. With her environmental initiatives, she is also a perfect fit for the sustainable ethos we stand for.”

About their partnership with Bhatt, Vedant Modi, chief marketing officer, Vedant Fashions (Mohey’s parent company), says, “Mohey has always symbolised the progressive women of our society. Alia Bhatt’s association with Mohey is a big step forward. She has been revered for her remarkable performances in the recent past.” He adds, “As a brand, Mohey has always believed in celebrating the modern-day bride and encouraged them to have freedom of choice, self-expression and confidence, and Alia was the perfect match.”

Her social media presence (she has 61.8 million followers on Instagram and 21.3 million on Twitter) has also helped her become a go-to option for marketers.

Apart from Bhatt, the only other woman from Bollywood in the Top 10 list is Deepika Padukone — at the seventh position, a demotion of two places from 2020.

“Today, there are not a lot of A-league female celebrities anyway. While Deepika Padukone has done well, she has had small periods of controversies around her. But Alia has had a controversy-free journey to date,” says Jain.

Ad-film guru Prahlad Kakkar says that since Bhatt “is not a raving beauty” (as opposed to someone like Aishwarya Rai Bachchan), it doesn’t distract viewers from her main ability to be an excellent, emotive actor. “Sometimes when actresses are really beautiful, people reject or like them based on their looks, not their performances.”

Bhatt’s greatest advantage, he feels, is that she is “cute and endearing”. “She is a great performer and with every role, she has been able to create a new character for herself,” says Kakkar. “What most actors do is they play themselves, so the characters never change. They are limited in terms of their performances and the languages they use, but not Alia.”

This may well be the case. After her debut as Shanaya in Student of the Year (2012), film critic Anupama Chopra wrote, “She’s like Poo (Kareena Kapoor Khan’s character) from Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham but without the killer attitude. Shanaya is substituting her lack of family ties with designer labels.”

For her second outing, Imtiaz Ali’s Highway (2014), Bhatt reportedly took diction classes to prepare for the role, and later for Raazi, learned self defence techniques. The performances were met with rave reviews.

“Her acceptability is so high because she is not perfect,” says Kakkar. “Therefore, she tries that much harder in terms of delivering a performance. Even her ability to laugh at herself and her openness to criticism make her a success.”

Agrees Samit Sinha, founder, Alchemist Brand Consulting. “She has made quite a journey.” Remember how she turned her gaffe — when she blurted out “Prithviraj Chavan” when asked on Koffee with Karan who India’s president was — to her advantage with a video with the now disbanded comedy group AIB mocking herself and taking the criticism in her stride?

“It showed mettle,” says Sinha of the video. "The comments were quite cruel to her and an ordinary person might have succumbed. She has recovered from that and now comes through as a composed and competent person. She seems to be at the top of her game.