With Udta Punjab and Dear Zindagi, Alia Bhatt was the tinsel story of the year. Here’s a mock letter telling what the little old star would probably have to say about life in 2016.

Dear Zindagi

My God! Was it just my head spinning or was the world on speed. The year went by on a great high, no wonder I needed to get off the carousel and calm down in the serenity of the Maldives, with whom else but my family to feel the ground once more. Thank you 2016! It’s been great.

I need to get over the fact that I was on the couch with none other than the Shah Rukh Khan in a whole film. Wow! How dreamy can that get! I’ve been on Cloud 9 since, needed to splash in the cool sea waters to level my head back. Love you forever Shah Rukh, thanks for all the great tips you shared about love and life and of course acting and career during the time we spent together on the sets of Dear Zindagi. Feels good when people tell me I overshadowed you, held my own. That was meant to be cheeky.

The year seemed to fly past in a flash. First it was the release of Kapoor and Sons helmed by my dearest friend confidant guide whatever you may call, the ever present Karan Johar. And for icing I got to play with two gorgeous hunks – Sidharth Malhotra and Fawad Khan. It was an unusual setting for a Hindi film, among the rolling hills of Coonoor, with a hilarious, heartwarming and heart breaking story which would leave all of us feeling warm and fuzzy for sure.

But it was around the middle of the year that gave me huge satisfaction to see people react to a film like Udta Punjab, which is not a feel good story but a hard-hitting reality that unfolds in the daily lives of many in drug infused Punjab. What attracted me to this film was that no one would really imagine me playing the character that I play – that of a Bihari migrant labour caught in the killer world of drugs — and I found that challenging and interesting. I was very happy that here was a role which had no shades of any of my previous roles.

Perhaps this is one character that I wouldn’t have even imagined myself doing even though I have always wanted to play roles, which are a bit unlike me, not out of the box necessarily but those which people wouldn’t think of me playing. But this was way out of my comfort zone. Apart from getting the Bihari accent right, I had to work hard on the correct body language. It was an amazing learning experience.

It reminded me of my character in Highway and how it stayed with me for long. But this time I had decided not to get too taken over by Kumari Pinky. It took six months to mentally get out of my character in Highway, so I decided I am never going to let any character seep that much into me again! I am not into any kind of method acting either. If I do that, I might strike a false note somewhere. So when a director says, “Action!” I switch to my character and try and become that person.

It was Highway that brought out the actor in me. In films like Student of the Year I was dismissed as eye candy; people didn’t think I was an actor… just a face. So I was determined to prove to myself and to the world, that I was more than just a pretty face. That came in Imtiaz Ali’s coming-of-age film Highway in 2014. Highway not only changed how the world perceived me as an actor, but also who I am intrinsically as a person.

Imtiaz shot the film linearly, so while on screen Veera is discovering things about herself, off screen, I was discovering myself. In a sense, I was living a parallel life. When Veera feels that sense of freedom as she climbs a tree for the first time, that’s exactly how I felt as well. Like Veera, I was so out of my comfort zone. Highway made me the person that I am today.

But back to 2016 Dear Zindagi, and thank you once again for giving me this life. I’m only 23 and loving what I’m doing.

Love Alia