Soni recalls smoking 100 cigarettes a day when she was pregnant with Alia

Alia Bhatt continued working throughout her pregnancy in 2022, even performing action sequences for her Hollywood debut, Tom Harper’s Netflix thriller 'Heart of Stone'. She also stepped into production with Jasmeet K Reen’s dark comedy thriller 'Darlings', which released just three months before she welcomed daughter Raha Kapoor.

However, Alia seems to have inherited her work ethic from her mother, Soni Razdan, who continued shooting during both her pregnancies in the late 1980s and early 1990s.Soni recalled discovering her first pregnancy while filming for the television show 'Buniyaad'. The Ramesh Sippy and Jyoti Swarup-directed series marked her television debut in 1986 and ran until 1987.“I got pregnant first while shooting for Buniyaad,” Soni recalled.

She also spoke about the support she received from the show's makers during that period, particularly when travelling to the sets was a challenge. “The Sippys were so good to me. I was living in the boonies in the Lokhandwala complex, where you used to not even get a taxi in the morning to go to a shoot. We’d just started as a married couple. I didn’t have a car.

They’d send me a car so that I didn’t have the stress of finding transport at 6 am.

At that time, Lokhandwala wasn’t developed at all. Even on set, they gave me the best room and took good care of me,” she said in an interview with Screen.After welcoming her first daughter, Shaheen Bhatt, with filmmaker

Mahesh Bhatt

in 1988, Soni became pregnant again while shooting for her husband's 1993 crime thriller 'Gumrah'. Recalling one particularly unusual experience from the shoot, she revealed that she had no idea she was expecting Alia at the time.“I was shooting that smoking scene, and I’d have smoked some 100 cigarettes in one day. I had no clue Alia was inside me! I’m not a smoker, but after that, I was just craving cigarettes,” revealed Soni, laughing.She also performed the film's much-discussed gallows sequence while pregnant. However, when she returned to the sets after a five-month break, her pregnancy had begun to show, creating a challenge with her costumes.“I also did that famous gallows scene when I was pregnant with her. Then there was a big break. Five months later, when I came back, my costumes wouldn’t fit me. I had a little bump by then. So, we had to alter the costumes,” she added.Soni pointed out that the film industry has become considerably more accommodating towards working mothers over the years. She is particularly happy that Alia does not have to conceal her motherhood or treat it as something that could affect her professional commitments.“It’s changed a lot. Nowadays, the mindset is completely different for producers, directors, and actors, which is so important. I’m so gratified by the fact that Alia doesn’t have to pretend she’s not a mom. Because at that time, we had to tiptoe around the fact that we had children so that the producer wouldn’t get stressed that I’d have to run away if my child fell sick,” said Soni.The actor also recounted an incident from the time she was shooting for Mahesh Bhatt's 1995 television show 'A Mouthful of Sky' in Mumbai's Saki Naka.

A paging call informed her that both her daughters, Shaheen and Alia, had been locked out of their house. Shaheen was seven at the time, while Alia was only three.“I remember I had such trauma on set trying to figure out how to get my children back into the house or into the neighbour’s house because they were on the steps. Those days are thankfully over, and actresses can be freely pregnant while they’re shooting. I never took any break.

The break took me,” she added, laughing.Soni also credited Cinevistaas Limited for providing her with consistent work during those years, particularly when being married to Mahesh Bhatt became a reason for some people in the industry to assume she no longer needed professional opportunities. The production house backed her with projects such as A Salam's 'Junoon', which aired from 1994 to 1998, and

Surendra Mohan

's family drama 'Saahil', which ran from 1995 to 1996.“Cinevistaas actually rescued me, I’d say. I was newly married, and people said, ‘Why does she need to work now? She’s Mahesh Bhatt’s wife.’ So, they used to not give me work.”She specifically remembered the supportive attitude of Cinevistaas chairperson Prem Kishen Malhotra and managing director Sunil Mehta, who were willing to offer her opportunities without making assumptions about her personal life.“My agent went up to them, and they said, ‘Yes, of course!’ They were the sweetest people to work with. Even before we started shooting, they said, ‘You want money? We’ll give you money in advance.’ I said, ‘No no, I just want to work’ (laughs). They were like a family, and ensured I had work and was working at least 10 days a month,” said Soni.