Alaya F: Before Sara and Janhvi’s Debut, I was Proud of having More Followers than them

The fresh face, Alaya F, made her big debut opposite Saif Ali Khan in the film Jawaani Jaaneman. The coming of age comedy also featured Tabu, Kubbra Sait, Chunky Panday among others, and received a lukewarm response at the box office. Besides, the film received critical acclaim and Alaya was lauded for her debut performance.

Alaya got into a candid chat and spoke about her Instagram obsession with Anupama Chopra on Film Companion. To start with, she shared that she uses Twitter to only reply to ‘sweet things’ that people say, however, she is on Instagram.

“I used to be obsessed with my Instagram when I was in New York. But when I came back and I was training, I was going to one class after another, and there was no time to take photos. At that time I didn't have anything to post so by default I didn't post anything. I wasn't going out so I didn't take pictures of my food” Alaya says.

She also jokes about how she cannot go to her Kathak guruji and ask him to take a selfie. She adds that now she finds it weird to go back to that phase and take photos, and constantly put her life out there.

“You get used to being in the present and it's suddenly hard to go back” the newbie said.

Further, when asked if she thinks social media is a requirement, she affirms it and says ”Your movies get promoted better , brands want to sign you more, it's a huge part of the business. The numbers are so important, it creates a difference in what you get paid.”

Next up, Alaya shares a funny story: “Last year my followers would increase only by 2000 , it would go up and then down. But after my movie was released, it jumped a bit.”

Alaya reveals that before Sara and Janhvi made their debut, she used to take pride in having more social media followers than them. However, things changed after their movies were announced.

She continues with the story as she says, “And this is back to when 50000 followers was a big deal, and I had them. I used to feel yeah, I have the most number of followers from that slot you know. Cut to Dhadak was announced and Janhvi made her account public, and overnight she had like 500 thousand followers, cut to Sara's debut and her following went up. And, I was like, ‘what, I put in so much effort in this.’

“And then I realized it's so stupid, it's always changing. People buy followers, and social media is very overrated” she concludes.

Meanwhile, on the professional front, Alaya has already bagged her second film. The makers of her first, Puja Films have signed her for another film after Jawani Jaaneman. A few days back, Jackky Bhagnani of Puja Entertainment shared: “It was a delight to work with Alaya in our first project together. The team has always found promise in her artistry and believed she would do wonders. We are happy to have Alaya be part of our next project as well. It is too soon to reveal details about the project, but the entire team is excited to have her be part of our family, once again.”