It's been a good year on the global stage for Bollywood star Alia Bhatt. After making her Met Gala debut and being named Gucci's first Indian global ambassador in May, the actress is set to make her first major international splash in a film.
Heart of Stone, a big-budget espionage thriller makes its debut on Netflix on Friday. Starring Gal Gadot in the lead, the film follows the exploits of Charter, a global spy network so secretive even other spy networks do not know of its existence.
Bhatt, who plays a mysterious hacker named Keya Dhawan, wrapped filming in July last year. Sharing a series of photos from the set thanking her co-stars Gadot and Jamie Dornan, director Tom Harper as well as the crew, she said: “I can’t wait for you all to see the film.”
Fans will soon be able to catch the A-lister in action mode. The Hollywood debut follows her recent Bollywood film, Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani, which is already one of the biggest hits of the year.
What's Heart of Stone about?
Wonder Woman star Gadot plays Rachel Stone, an agent working for Charter, an elite international spy agency with no political or national loyalties. When a hacker, played by Bhatt, steals the agency's most powerful, and dangerous, weapon known as the the “Heart”, Stone sets out on a globe-trotting adventure to retrieve it.
The Heart is the world’s most powerful AI program, able to keep track of anyone’s entire online history and then use that data to predict what they might do in the future. The Charter uses the Heart to look at a given situation and help their operatives plan what to do – and maintain peace in the world.
“If you own the Heart, you own the world,” Bhatt said at a Netflix global fan event Tudum in June.
Who is in the cast?
Gadot's Stone is joined on her mission by Charter members Jack of Hearts (played by German actor Matthias Schweighofer), Nomad (British actress Sophie Okonedo) and their MI6 counterparts Parker (played by Fifty Shades of Grey star Dornan), Max Bailey (British actor Paul Ready) and Theresa Yang (British actress Jing Lusi).
What's Alia Bhatt's role in Heart of Stone?
Bhatt, who played an Indian spy in the 2018 thriller Raazi, had earlier said that playing Keya Dhawan in Heart of Stone was an opportunity to step out of her comfort zone.
But she said she was surprised at how close her experience was to her previous work in Hindi blockbusters.
“There’s nothing different in terms of the work ethic, the involvement in the work, and the idea that this whole massive team has to come together to make this movie and live up to one vision,” she said. “For me, it’s totally similar and in that sense feels extremely comfortable because it’s just like home.”
Heart of Stone is on Netflix from Friday
