Dear Zindagi – Feeble and Faltering, Oh Dear!

Cast: Alia Bhatt, Shah Rukh Khan, Ali Zafar, Kunal Kapoor and Angad Bedi

Rating: 2/5

“...she slips from high above and falls into a dirty puddle of water, surrounded by ‘dressed up’ brides pointing towards her and laughing out loud. This wakes her up at 4AM. Her insomnia continues making her even more restless... Soon she visits his clinic and sits on a creaking chair. Bothered, she shifts to a couch. He comes in; she explains everything about the dream. He relates that to her life and bothering scenarios she goes through.”

Apologies for the spoilers, but such are the analogies Dr. Jehangir Khan (Shah Rukh Khan) derives from the concerns Kaira (Alia Bhatt) discusses, about her life. She goes through few break ups and doesn’t share a healthy relationship with anyone else, but her friends and brother. Dr. Khan is an experienced DD-Dimag ka Doctor who Kaira happens to listen to, at a conference. His ‘different’ and practical approach to life interests her and she realises to undertake a therapy to untangle her life.  Will he treat her as a friend and help her find her soul? Will she find happiness and start loving life? That’s what Gauri Shinde’s Dear Zindagi is all about.

Bollywood birdie Karan Johar is known to spread the message of love through his movies, be it for family, friends or oneself; and we love them too. This time he invests in Shinde’s film to deliver the same, but unfortunately her story-telling falters, despite the impressive performances by the cast. The first half of the film is all about Kaira dealing with her love life and to an extent family and the second half is about her ‘soul searching’ journey with Dr. Khan. It is rightly said that at times, it is difficult for one to narrate a simple thought. Dear Zindagi, regrettably, is a perfect example.

Alia as Kaira shows phenomenal growth as a performer. She delivers the role to the best and convinces us with every emotion. Her chemistry with friends, family, brother and therapist have been distinguished very well, to an extent that you start feeling bad for her plight. Shah Rukh Khan’s version of Dr. Jehangir Khan doesn’t stand apart, but thankfully he now plays the role perfect for his age. It’s simple and it suits him, but I wish there was something memorable in it. All the other characters have performed fairly well. Their roles do add value to the moments and the scenes.  

Had the makers focussed on the dialogues, the film’s fate could have been different. Unfortunately, they chose a simple word play. Music is mediocre and apart from “Love You Zindagi”, no other song is compelling enough to be on loop. Cinematography is decent and Goa is shown beautiful as always.

To sum it up, Dear Zindagi falls flat on the script and storytelling. Delivering a simple thought could have been executed well. The makers have to be thankful to the cast, especially Alia Bhatt, for her ‘power play’ in Shinde’s narration. Had it not been for them, Dear Zindagi would have been as bad as Kaira’s nightmare.