Navigating a dating life as a celebrity is not easy. Before she became an actress, Alaya F used dating apps as a student in New York and met interesting people. But things have definitely become more tricky as she returned to India, and even more when she stepped into Bollywood.
The Jawaani Jaaneman star, who was a celebrity guest on Tinder’s Swipe Ride, talks about her personal dos and don’ts when it comes to dating, and if she discusses them with mother Pooja Bedi.
You were a guest on Swipe Ride with Kusha Kapila, how was the experience?
I’ve loved Kusha’s work ever since I first saw her videos on social media. I have followed her journey ever since. She’s a wonderful, funny, intelligent woman. Just doing anything with her is great fun. And there was Simran who we were taking to her date. So it was three wonderful, strong, empowered women taking a fellow woman to her date. It was just great fun. It was a really fun episode. We’ve had a lot of laughs and a lot of great conversation.
Have you yourself tried an online dating app?
I have tried Tinder, especially when I was studying in New York. It was a great way to make friends and meet lots of people and a lot of funny stories came out of it. I think dating apps are wonderful, especially in today’s day and age, where everyone is so busy anyway. You’re only meeting a select group of people all the time, either at your workplace or people that you meet, maybe at parties, and it tends to be the same people that you end up seeing a lot. So I think dating apps, really open up your choices and just make it safe and accessible and fun.
What are the dos and don’ts that you’ve always had, while going on a dating app?
My personal dos are always just be yourself, be honest. I would meet people very close to where I live. Because if it was a bad date then I didn’t want to have to have traveled an hour for a terrible date and on my way back question on my life choices. I will always meet someone very close to where I was living. My don’ts are – obviously I hate when people are extra late for the date. Or when people are dishonest. Even worse if they don’t look like their photos, but thankfully that has never happened to me.
When you’re in Bombay as a celebrity, as part of Bollywood, with a famous family, I’m sure it’s way more tricky to navigate dating now. How do you approach things in your dating life now?
As soon as I came back from New York, I switched off all my dating apps. Because when you’re an actor it gets very complicated. There are already fake accounts of you on a lot of places. It is confusing, it’s just a big mess if you’re a public figure, and on a dating app. So that’s why as soon as I came back to Bombay, I had to turn it off. But dating is always a little weird, a bit awkward, and always a little tough. So I suppose that carries on here as well. But here, there are many more layers to everything, you have to really think about who you want to be with and in what scope you want to be with them.
Do you discuss your dating life with your mother?
My mother and I have a very open relationship. But it’s not like, after I have a date, I’ll be like, Oh, mama, I went on a date today. And then she’ll be like, Oh, how was it? No, it’s not like that. But if it comes up in some conversation, then I mention these stories, but we usually talk about other things, not about dating life and stuff.
Another side effect of being a celebrity is that you are surrounded by link-up rumours. Does that bother you?
This I find very funny. My friends have a field day with it. They just laugh and forward those stories nonstop. That’s why I just laugh and I have no problem with linkup rumours. They just they make for good entertainment in my personal life.
