KJo, SRK convinced director to replace an actor with Alia?

The tragic demise of actor Sushant Singh Rajput reignited the heated debate about nepotism and favoritism in the film fraternity.

Angry fans slammed many stars considered "industry insiders," including Alia and her filmmaker father Mahesh Bhatt, for riding on privilege and promoting nepotism.

Fellow celebrities like Karan Johar, Sonam Kapoor, and Sonakshi Sinha were also subjected to online hatred and trolling.

Directed by Gauri Shinde, Dear Zindagi was a coming-of-age drama about a budding cinematographer, Kaira, who seeks the help of Dr. Jehangir (SRK), a free-spirited psychologist so as to get a better hold of her life. The movie also starred Ali Zafar and Ira Dubey.

It was a hit at the box office, and also received positive reviews from critics.

Now, unfortunately for Alia, a throwback video has resurfaced online.

In the video, film journalist Rajeev Masand tells the actor about how he heard that the makers were initially supposed to make the movie with another actor, but Karan and SRK pushed Gauri to take Alia instead.

He added that the duo convinced Gauri that Alia would not look too "young for the role."

In her response, Alia accepted that another actor was to star in the film, but denied knowing about Karan and SRK's requests to the director.

"I know that there was someone else on board earlier. And then there was a conversation about the film maybe going to me. That's all I know," she said.

Rumors said Katrina Kaif was the original choice!

In the same video, Alia also let on that she contacted Kalank director Abhishek Varman, and told her that she would be "really upset" if she was not cast in the film.

Notably, Abhishek had previously directed 2 States, also starring Alia.

She also admittedly told Udta Punjab director Abhishek Chaubey that she wanted to be a part of the movie.

The video has ensured that the criticism against Alia would not stop anytime soon.

Fellow users on Twitter grilled the actor for "hijacking" other stars' projects. A certain user tweeted, "Karan Johar snatches good scripts and hands it over to Alia and makes it difficult for other actresses to get good scripts and make them sign bad ones unfortunately (sic)."

On a related note, Alia's half-sister and director/actor Pooja Bhatt also recently weighed in on the nepotism debate, claiming that her family launched more fresh talent than the entire film industry combined.

She also said that her family was made to feel inferior for "not chasing stars," adding that even Kangana Ranaut was launched by Vishesh Films, the Bhatt family's production company.