Before we delve into the analytical dissection of Jigra’s box office performance and question whether Alia Bhatt remains the ideal choice for the highly anticipated film Alpha, it is crucial to acknowledge her luminosity on screen. Alia’s work in Jigra was engulfing. Throughout her career, she has selected roles that showcase her versatility and keep her ahead. Moreover, Alia has deftly tossed the ‘nepotism’ debate, holding the aura of ‘Rani’ and silencing prejudices with her work and grace.
Jigra faltered at the box office, a result arguably shaped by the prevailing patriarchal mindset that still hesitates to embrace a lone woman commanding intense action sequences on the silver screen. What’s more, Alia Bhatt’s delicate features challenge conventional expectations of a formidable action protagonist, leading audiences to initially doubt her ability to play such a role. Yet, upon Jigra’s OTT release, viewers found themselves captivated by her performance, with many openly conceding that they had misjudged her and owed Alia an apology for underestimating her prowess.
However, does that change the question of whether she remains the right choice for Alpha? No.
Experts note it better. Box-office numbers determine a film’s success—there’s no other way to put it, right? Over the past few months, we have seen movies with rich emotional quotient and substance fail terribly at the box office, because the current fuming audience demands lambasting and brutality on their screens. Bloodshed is a cathartic release, at times.
Amid that, Alpha is on the queue, with Alia Bhatt to play the leading woman, gearing up with her action boots. But the persistence comes into question: not that she can’t play the lady of strength and resilience—we saw a glimpse of it in Gangubai—but that it was a Sanjay Leela Bhansali opus—typically, it was a tale of a woman who rose through her feminine ferocity, with no bone-crunching stunts. But for Alpha, we could anticipate this being a brain-beating screenplay, with Alia unleashing a menace.
The title announcement radiated an arresting intensity—Alia Bhatt’s commanding, celestial voiceover seized the audience’s attention—but a menacing characterisation needs masculine energy (apparently, masculine does not mean ‘men’, likewise feminine doesn’t mean ‘women’. It is more about the qualities, not the sexes), something that was missing in her ‘Satya.’
Admittedly, it is far too soon to draw definitive conclusions; nevertheless, we find ourselves enticed by a maze of tantalising possibilities and lingering ‘what ifs.’ As anticipation for Alpha swells, we collectively yearn for Alia to capture our imaginations and stir our very souls, just as her Voice of God did in the electrifying title announcement.
