Randeep Hooda speaks on Kangana Ranaut-Alia Bhatt feud: "Alia was unfairly targeted..."

New Delhi, April 3: Randeep Hooda, who was recently seen in Swatantrya Veer Savarkar, has shared screen space with Alia Bhatt in the Imtiaz Ali film Highway. When Alia was called a “mediocre” actor by Kangana Ranaut, Randeep stood up for her co-star. Speaking about the same, the actor was recently asked about the same in an interview and he spoke about the “spiritual bond” he shares with Alia and how he felt that she was “unfairly targeted”.

In a chat with Siddharth Kannan, Randeep was asked about this episode from 2019 and he shared, “While making Highway, I developed a spiritual bond with Alia. I don’t know if it’s the same for her. That’s up to her. I can only speak for myself. I have seen that she has always tried to do new things. I stood up for her genuinely because she was unfairly targeted.”

The actor then spoke about Kangana and said that it is “unbecoming” to target one’s colleagues. “To target your fellow actors or your colleagues or your fraternity over things that you feel you did not get, even though I think you did got a lot from this industry, it’s just unbecoming. I felt that I should do it and I did it,” he said.

Notably in 2019, Kangana Ranaut has criticised Alia Bhatt’s performance in Gully Boy and called it “mediocre”. She told photographers, “I am embarrassed…What is there to beat in Gully Boy Performance ….same snappy muh phat girl… Bollywood’s idea of a fiery girl, woman empowerment and good acting, spare me this embarrassment, please. Media has taken filmy kids love too far…stop pampering mediocre work or else bar will never be raised.”

At the time, Alia responded to Kangana’s statement at a press conference and said, “I definitely don’t have the ability to speak as candidly as Kangana does. I really do respect her for that. And, maybe, in a way, she is right. Sometimes we do hold back. My dad also says that there are already so many opinions in the world that it can do with one less opinion. So, I have an opinion, but I’ll keep it to myself. But, kudos to her as she genuinely speaks really well.”

Randeep Hooda took to Twitter and defended Alia by writing, “Dearest @aliaa08 I’m so glad you are not letting the opinions of very occasional actors and chronic victims affect you and your work .. kudos to you for your continued efforts to outdo yourself.” Alia acknowledged his support and wrote, “Randy 🤗🤗🤗🤗.”