Subhash K Jha: Why Alia-Ranbir Make The Perfect Couple

What did Alia have that Ranbir's previous girlfriends did not?
Mom Neetu Kapoor's blessings, observes Subhash K Jha.

IMAGE: Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor at the Kapoors's Christmas luncheon in 2020. Photograph: Pradeep Bandekar

Ranbir Kapoor has been in love many times.

But Alia Bhatt has been special from the beginning.

She is the first woman in Ranbir's life whom he was committed to marry from the start.

"One doesn't know what it was about Alia, but Ranbir shared a different equation with her from the start. He saw her the way his dad Rishi Kapoor saw Neetu Singh: The woman he was going to marry," a close friend of the couple tells Subhash K Jha.

Apparently, Ranbir did not promise marriage to his other girlfriends. But that he was going to marry Alia was a 'given' in their relationship from the time they met at Sanjay Leela Bhansali's residence.

IMAGE: Ranbir Kapoor with sister Ridhima Kapoor Sahni, father Rishi Kapoor, mother Neetu Kapoor and Alia Bhatt. Photograph: Kind courtesy Neetu Kapoor/Instagram

So what did Alia have that Ranbir's previous girlfriends did not?

Mom Neetu Kapoor's blessings.

If mutual friends are to be believed, Ranbir's mother did not approve of Deepika Padukone and Katrina Kaif.

"Neetuji warmed up to Alia from the beginning. Alia was comfortable around both Rishiji and Neetuji. They planned to get married in 2021, but Rishi Kapoor's sudden passing put a hold on all wedding plans," says the friend.

IMAGE: Alia and Ranbir with their mothers, Soni Razdan and Neetu Kapoor. Photograph: Kind courtesy Neetu Kapoor/Instagram

Reportedly, neither Rishi Kapoor nor Neetu found much to talk about with Deepika or Katrina. Not that the two ladies made any effort to reach out to Ranbir's parents. This factor played a big hand in the way Ranbir's relationships fizzled out.

Alia, on the other hand, did not have to make an effort to connect with Ranbir's parents.

"It comes naturally to her. This joy in being part of Ranbir's family is bliss to Alia. In her own family, she craved for her parents (Mahesh Bhatt and Soni Razdan) to be together, but her father was often missing. Being with Rishi and Neetu gave Alia a sense of belonging," says a friend of the Kapoors.

With Rishi Kapoor gone, Alia keeps close tabs on her future mother-in-law.

It is Alia, not Ranbir, who calls up Neetu regularly.

Ranbir is taciturn. Alia is more open about her feelings.

That's why, as far as Rishi was concerned, they made the perfect couple.