Happy Birthday, Alia Bhatt. Gully Girl@25

Alia Bhatt, now, is amongst the most in-demand actresses in Bollywood. Alia has featured in diverse set of roles ranging from making her debut with a fashionista college student in Student Of The Year to playing a Bihari migrant in Udta Punjab. On her 25th birthday, let's take a look at her life and career so far.

This image was instagrammed by Alia Bhatt

Alia was born on March 15, 1993 to producer-director Mahesh Bhatt and his second wife, actress Soni Razdan. She is the half-sister of actors Pooja Bhatt and Rahul Bhatt and the niece of producer Mukesh Bhatt. Actor Emraan Hashmi and director Mohit Suri are her cousins.

Images instagrammed by Soni Razdan and Alia Bhatt

Alia always wanted to become a Bollywood star, as she confessed on Koffee With Karan. At six, she did a cameo as she played the younger version of Preity Zinta in the 1999 film Sangharsh.

Unlike her sister Pooja, there was no readymade launch pad in the form of a Mahesh Bhatt film for Alia. Instead, she made her debut as a lead actress in Karan Johar's 2012 hit Student Of The Year opposite fellow Bollywood rookies Siddharth Malhotra and Varun Dhawan.

Alia was then cast as Veera, a rich girl kidnapped and taken on a road trip which turns out to be a journey of self-discovery, in Imtiaz Ali's Highway. The film released in February 2014 to rave reviews and Alia's performance was singled out for praise.

Alia also began forging a parallel career as a playback singer in 2015. She made her debut as a singer with the song Sooha Saha in Highway. Composer A R Rahman was so impressed with her rendition that he insisted that she should continue her vocal training at his institute.

On the same the day Highway released, the first look of Alia's next film 2 States was released on Twitter. The movie, produced by Karan Johar, is based on a bestselling novel written by Chetan Bhagat. Alia won the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress for her stellar performance in Highway.

Alia was next seen opposite Varun Dhawan in Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania, where she played a bride-to-be from Ambala who decides to go to Delhi to arrange cash to buy for buying herself an expensive bridal designer lehenga. Alia sang the unplugged version of Main Tenu Samjhawan Ki in the film.

In 2015, Alia featured in Vikas Bahl's Shaandaar, co-starring Shahid Kapoor. The film did not perform well at the box office.

In 2016, Alia featured in films like Shakun Batra's Kapoor And Sons, co-starring Sidharth Malhotra and Fawad Khan and the critically acclaimed Udta Punjab, for which she won the Filmfare Best Actress award. She also had a cameo in Ae Dil Hai Mushkil.

Alia wrapped the year with Shah Rukh Khan's Dear Zindagi, in which she played a bubbly cinematographer - Kiara.

Alia kicked off 2017 with the sequel of Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania - Badrinath Ki Dulhania, also starring Varun Dhawan.

This image was posted on Instagram by Alia Bhatt

Alia Bhatt has an interesting line up of films - Meghna Gulzar's Raazi, Zoya Akhtar's Gully Boy with Ranveer Singh and Brahmastra, co-starring Ranbir Kapoor and produced by Karan Johar.

Images instagrammed by Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor

Here's wishing Alia a very happy birthday.

This image was posted on Instagram by Alia Bhatt