Imtiaz Ali chooses Alia Bhatt over Deepika Padukone, Reddit calls it the ‘ultimate betrayal’. Here's why

An old clip of Deepika claiming to be Imtiaz Ali's favorite resurfaced on the internet after the filmmaker chose Alia Bhatt over her.

Filmmaker Imtiaz Ali has directed actors like Ranbir Kapoor, Deepika Padukone, Alia Bhatt, and others in his films. Recently, during an interview with Komal Nahta for his podcast Game Changers, the filmmaker chose Alia over Deepika. Soon after, an old video of Deepika claiming to be Imtiaz’s favourite resurfaced online.

Internet reacts after Imtiaz Ali chooses Alia Bhatt over Deepika Padukone.

When Deepika said she's Imtiaz Ali's favourite

During the rapid-fire round, when Imtiaz was asked to choose between Deepika and Alia, he chose Alia. Following this, Reddit users dug up an old Film Companion interview featuring Deepika, in which she stated that she and Imtiaz were each other’s favourites. Interestingly, Alia was also present during that interview.

Deepika had said, “Imtiaz wrote Cocktail, but he directed Tamasha. We are each other’s favourites.” Sharing the video, a Reddit user wrote, “Imtiaz really gave her a reality check.”

"we are each other's favourite" Imtiaz really gave her a reality check 💀
byu/Hell_holder11 inBollyBlindsNGossip

The resurfaced video led to Reddit users calling Deepika “delusional.” One wrote, “This is embarrassing,” “Oops, Deepu… ultimate betrayal,” and “Why is she always delulu?”

However, some fans defended Deepika. One user wrote, “I love how someone waited for years for his answer to change just to make this edit. He picked Deepika for the same question during his Koffee with Karan appearance. Maybe Alia’s recent performances made him appreciate her more. What a petty post.” Another commented, “Actually, Deepika is being generous when she says he’s also her favourite. Tamasha was a bad movie about a man-child needing to be fixed by someone. These directors and actors keep changing their favourites based on the current trend—there’s no real loyalty.”

Deepika has worked with Imtiaz in two films—Love Aaj Kal (alongside Saif Ali Khan) and Tamasha (alongside Ranbir Kapoor). She also starred in Cocktail, which was written by Imtiaz. Meanwhile, Alia has worked with Imtiaz in Highway.

Deepika Padukone and Alia Bhatt’s recent and upcoming projects

Deepika was last seen in Rohit Shetty’s Singham Again. The film, which also stars Ajay Devgn, Tiger Shroff, Ranveer Singh, Kareena Kapoor, Akshay Kumar, and Arjun Kapoor, collected ₹372 crore at the worldwide box office. The actress is yet to announce her next project.

Alia was last seen in Jigra, which failed to perform at the box office. The actor will be next seen in YRF spy universe's Alpha alongside Sharvari. She also has Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Love & War in the pipeline.