An actor’s initiation into the film industry—those very first steps into the hopeful limelight—are always interesting. Alizeh, daughter of Alvira Khan Agnihotri and Atul Agnihotri and Salman Khan’s niece, figuratively took hers early on as a child, accompanying her father on the sets of a film he directed. Alizeh chose a rather unconventional first project for her acting debut: Soumendra Padhi’s Farrey, starring alongside Class actor Zeyn Shaw, Tabbar fame Sahil Mehta and Prasanna Bisht. A film about an exam cheating scandal isn’t your regular Student Of The Year, but it’s quite the way to announce yourself to the industry. Talking to Alizeh, you get a sense of decisiveness that’s rare for a newcomer. “It’s a business that’s changing every day, right? You never know what’s going to work or what’s not going to work,” she says, opening up about her unexpected choice. “Art should challenge you. It should inspire you. Each generation in this film industry should come up with something they relate to. I related to Farrey so much, and it’s such a realistic film,” she explains.
The realistic tone and relatability of the film appealed to Alizeh when she first read her character. “Initially, when I started off the film, I thought there was not much in common between the both of us. As I kept doing it more and more, I realised I have so much more in common with Niyati than I thought. Those little things ultimately made me happy about this choice because I was figuring out more of myself as I was going through this process.”
Reflecting on her first day on set as an actress, Alizeh reveals that all fell into place with a little prep work. “Luckily, the scene we were doing that day was about my first day in a new place. I just channelled that. But all of us had gotten to know each other well. The cast had done thorough camera trials before we got on set. So on the first day, we were happy to start because we prepped so much. We’ve done a lot of workshops.”
Speeding up the process was the young actress’ experience on sets. Digging into her childhood memories, she narrates, “My earliest memories from when I was younger were when my father was directing a film called Hello. I spent a lot of time on that set. I saw the pre-production and the post-production. That was the first time I actually experienced how a film is made from beginning to end. And that definitely sparked my interest in films.” She reveals that while Salman Khan actively encouraged her off the sets, he kept his distance while the shooting was one and only landed on the sets once. “Mamu came to the set once. But he was very sweet and never wanted to interfere. He wanted us to have fun. He didn’t want to distract everyone. I was grateful for him to just come one day, have a look, and just give his blessings. He was just watching from afar, like a guardian angel,” she shares. Proudly talking about Salman’s stardom, Alizeh is convinced that her uncle doesn’t realise how big a name he is. It inspires her to see how the business of making movies still excites him. She says, “It’s not changed him in any way, and he still remains the same person that he was, the same young boy that he was all those years ago. And that’s one thing that I really admire about him.” Now, Salman isn’t the only family member she looks up to. Her grandfather, Salim Khan, taught her to take movie scripts very seriously. She goes as far as saying that the script can tell you if the project is going to work. “So many times I’ll go for narrations, and the one role would have been fully written out, and they’d be like, ‘Aapka aisa hai.’ I’m like, ‘But how am I supposed to understand if I want to do this movie or not if you don’t narrate the entire screenplay?’ That’s one thing that I learned from him. How important the screenplay is, how important the dialogue is, and how important it is to know your character because that’s the backbone of your film.”
Support also poured in from Alizeh’s circle of friends, including Ananya Panday, who took to social media to cheer for her. “All of us have grown up together. We’re all big cheerleaders for each other. We’re always in touch, congratulating and messaging each other. So there’s a great relationship, a great sense of camaraderie there,” she beams.
Within half an hour of conversation, Alizeh unravels her keen confidence with her articulate words. In fact, even the discussion of debuts that marked the year, including Class and The Archies, which featured Suhana Khan, Khushi Kapoor, and Agastya Nanda in an ensemble, further fueled her enthusiasm. “There’s clearly a voice there. People are feeling that the youth aren’t represented in a realistic way. It’s a very exciting time as an actor to know that you have all these platforms. It’s great that Farrey isn’t standing alone, but there are many similar films. That helps the business of Farrey because the audience is there for it now,” she concludes.
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