Almost frightening in her honesty, most people – leave alone men! – find it difficult to handle Pooja Bhatt. A star at 17, a hard-nosed film producer, a woman who played by her own rules and got wounded in the process, but never chose to live any differently… They don’t make ’em like the Bhatt babe anymore. What you see is what you get, when it’s Pooja Bhatt, the original #NoFilter woman…

Relationship Transparency
“I was always very clear that I was young and single, so if I was attracted to a guy, I didn’t deny myself a relationship. I would rather do that and realise after a year or two that the relationship wasn’t going anywhere and have the guts to end it... than to allow society to tell me that since I’m on my fourth relationship, it’s high time I made it work out.”

Recommended Read: Why we’re not surprised by Pooja Bhatt’s book on battling alcoholism…

No excuses!
“Jism was designed for adults. It was never meant for teenagers. I would never show cleavage in a movie with an ‘U’ certificate. I had the audacity, integrity and honesty to say, I was making the first adult love story of our times and I chose Bipasha Basu because I wanted her to ooze sex.”

Marital Truths
“The truth is that Munn and I had a glorious marriage. People were mortified when we tied the knot. We had dated for just two months and decided to take the plunge. It lasted 11 glorious years… I reached a point in my marriage when I felt I shouldn’t live a lie… Nobody asks you why you fell in love, so they shouldn’t ask you why you fell out of love.”

Vanishing Offers
“Filmmakers think I’m Mahesh Bhatt’s daughter so I’d ask too many questions.”

Bottle Battle
“I want to bust the stigma attached to alcoholism in our country. Women particularly are discouraged from seeking help because it's a matter of shame for the family. We don't share our pain or frailties, we cover our weaknesses and it becomes a cancer. Luckily, I pulled the plug before it became impossible for me to stop. I'm in the pink of health except for the weight I put on because I'm now a stressful producer. But being the daughter of an alcoholic makes you four times more susceptible to becoming one.”

Daddy Dear
“He's not a regular person, in general, so one would also imagine that he would not be a regular dad. He's not the dad who wants to sit down on every Sunday with you or tell you to do well in school or do well in that. He's the opposite - he would tell me to fail. He totally took the idea out of my head that failure is a bad thing… I knew him through that difficult phase of failure, which none of my siblings have seen or witnessed. I saw him grapple with alcohol, I saw him give it up and for me that is his greatest achievement. So I think I have an edge over my siblings not only because I've worked with him, but I've seen him through the depths of despair and I've seen him rise.”

About Alia
“I would just tell people that they shouldn’t be fooled by the kind of supposedly frivolous image of hers, since that’s the one you’d like to believe. She’s smarter than all of you put together.”

Empowerment
“Until women don’t get economic and sexual freedom, women empowerment is only an imagination.”

Touche!
“I wake each morning to the sound of church bells & the Azaan in a quiet by-lane of Bandra. I light an aggarbatti & salute the spirit of India.” (In response to Sonu Nigam’s tweet regarding being disturbed by the azaan)

Open & How!
“Even when my spat with (actor) Ranvir Sheorey was splashed all over the front pages and Shekhar Suman and Ruby Bhatia said how can she discuss her personal life, I thought it was important to say what I did. I had to hit back at the abusive relationship.”

No regrets
“I look back on every guy in my life with affection. I am what I am because of them.”