Alia Bhatt has named three actors as her influences, when it comes to Indian cinema. In an interview with Allure, Alia listed them out as her Dear Zindagi co-star Shah Rukh Khan, veteran actor Rekha, and Aishwarya Rai.

Alia on Aishwarya

“When it comes to learning or being inspired by someone who has embodied dance in the most beautiful way on screen, I can't help but think of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. She was absolutely, and still is, just mesmerizing. (She) also gave me a lot of direction and intellect. Whenever I had a song, I'd go to YouTube, type ‘Aishwarya Rai songs,’ and it'd come, and I'd be looking at all her songs just to catch the expressions and just the way she moves from one move to another, the ease, the way she just lets herself be, but at the same time, it's just so perfect and so precise. And she's beautiful to look at,” Alia said.

Alia calls Rekha ‘icon for the ages’

Alia also mentioned Rekha as one of her beauty influences. “When it comes to Indian cinema, there's one person who redefined/defined beauty, and that is Rekha. She's just an icon for the ages. Whether it was her red lips or her long hair or the way she did her eyes, the iconic flowers or gajras in her hair, that look in her eyes, which obviously you can't create; it only comes from within. But she's truly left the largest impact in India and all over the world with the beauty standards she's set,” Alia added. She said she's always struggled with her “gait” and “how to hold herself” in crowded, high-pressure moments. It's Rekha who has helped her on that front.

Alia also picked an iconic scene as the one that every girl like her craves for a recreation of. She selected the scene from Aditya Chopra's 1995 seminal directorial debut Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, in which Shah Rukh Khan's character Raj asks his love interest, Kajol's character Simran, to “palat” (turn around) as a gesture of loving him back.

Alia will be next seen in Jigra, Alpha, Love & War, and Jee Le Zaraa.

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