It’s amazing the kind of wisdom Alia Bhatt is suddenly showing. The actress who was, well, the ‘Bhatt’ of several jokes in the past because of her skewered idea of general knowledge, is now turning out to be as sharp as a whip when it comes to taking on social trollers and professional detractors publicly. Just recently she gave it strongly to people who have been hinting about the unfair practice of nepotism in Bollywood that did not give outside wannabes a chance.

Alia herself got her break through Dharma Productions’ Student of The Year in 2012 and considers Karan Johar her mentor more than her avante-garde filmmaker father Mahesh Bhatt. And more than anybody else, perhaps, it is KJo who bears the brunt of these nepotism allegations. Now Alia came out strongly not in his favour, but the very idea of nepotism in Bollywood. She admitted disarmingly, “I have realised that there is no need to defend the nepotistic nature of the industry because it does exist.”

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However, Alia who is also known for her wise choice of films and terrific performances, said that it was an emotional issue and had she been on the other side (meaning, a non-filmi family girl) then she too would have been heartbroken. But she added, “In film business, you can do whatever you want, but there has to be that X factor that people talk about. There are so many people who come from nowhere and make it big purely on the basis of their presence and what they bring to the screen. Whereas an XYZ person can be very good looking and some other can be marginally good looking but the latter can be a bigger star or more loved because of their talent.”

Now, if only Alia came up with names to illustrate her argument. Akshay Kumar and Shah Rukh Khan come to mind as actors who from outside the industry who made it big in Bollywood. But what about those from within, whose stardom dreams their ageing fathers and mothers are still lugging around?