When Mahesh Bhatt said his mother was ‘worried’ after he gave daughters Alia Bhatt and Shaheen 'Muslim names'

Actor Alia Bhatt's father, filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt, has often spoken candidly about his personal life. In a 1998 interview with Rediff, Mahesh opened up about his parents' religions – his father Nanabhai Bhatt was a Gujarati Brahmin, and mother Shirin Mohammad Ali was a Muslim. He recalled how his mother was 'a little embarrassed when he flaunted his Muslim roots', adding she became 'worried', when he gave his daughters Alia and Shaheeh Bhatt 'Muslim names'. Also read: Mahesh Bhatt says he is not petrified of trolls

Mahesh said his father 'never pretended to be secular'

Speaking about his parents, Mahesh had said in the old interview, "I had the best of both worlds. My mother was a Shia Muslim, while my father was a janoi-clad man. He never pretended to be secular. What's very interesting, both (father and mother) retained their individual faiths. They were madly in love but neither indulged in the farce of wanting to do things the other way."

'Everybody was worried'

Recalling life during the 1992 communal riots of Mumbai, he added, "My mother always wore this big tika, and saree – she liked that kind of thing. But, at the same time, I could see that there was something she was hiding. She felt that her minority status would perhaps interfere with our day-to-day lives. She was a little embarrassed when I flaunted my Muslim roots... when I came to know about it. Yes, she was a little embarrassed about it. She was worried about me during the communal riots in 1992. She was worried when we named my little girls -- because my second wife (Soni Razdan) liked those names – Shaheen and Alia. Both are Muslim names. Everybody was worried in 1992. What was going to happen?"

In 1970, Mahesh married Lorraine Bright (later name changed to Kiran Bhatt), and they had two children – Rahul and Pooja Bhatt. He married actor Soni Razdan in 1986 – they share two daughters, Shaheen and Alia Bhatt. Alia was born in March 1993; she is married to actor Ranbir Kapoor, and they share a daughter named Raha, who was born in November 2022.