Director: Gauri Shinde
Star cast: Alia Bhatt, Shah Rukh Khan, Ali Zafar, Angad Bedi, Kunal Kapoor
Ratings: 3/5 stars
Gauri Shinde Directed Dear Zindagi is released all over today. Story revels around a young, talented, successful cinematographer Kiara (Alia Bhat) who is used to breaking hearts before someone breaks hers. A chance encounter with a shrink gets her to open up to him. Shah Rukh plays the psychiatrist who guides her journey of trust and love. But for two hours you put up with too shiny, too happy people holding hands and you’re fed up with the hokey counseling sessions. The last half hour actually touches you but it is too little too late.
She’s talented and smart and successful. But she gets as bored with boyfriends and her best friends don’t know why. Their happiness, their joy, their existential quandaries seem to be so superficial they could have been deleted with a quick tap of on the computer. There is a moment in Dear Zindagi where Alia Bhatt is lying on a couch transfixed in an empty gaze. In another scene, we watch a collage of close up shots expressing the gamut of emotions she goes through post a dramatic breakup. There are several such shots and scenes in Gauri Shinde’s over indulgent Dear Zindagi where the protagonist Kaira (Alia Bhatt) is floating aimlessly like a plastic bag in air. We wait in anticipation wanting to share her pain and empathize with her situation, but the lack of a cohesive narrative falters in creating a solid connect with the girl who has relationship woes.
Dr Jehangir Khan is Shah Rukh Khan in his coolest role. He flashes those dimples (evident through that beard) as he dispenses the most un-doctor like advice. Dr. Jehangir is the shrink who helps Kaira put together the missing jigsaw pieces on the drawing board of her life. In the process, we meet Kaira’s ex (Angad Bedi), current (Kunal Kapoor) and future (Ali Zafar) boyfriends. The film is a long drawn conversation between Alia and Shah Rukh that has moments of brilliance thanks to the dialogues. Kaira has a dark back story that is played out through the lengthy second half and Jehangir sort of takes a backseat as the film rushes to its much-delayed climax.
Gauri Shinde has a way with her words and with Dear Zindagi, she creates an effortless banter between her characters that is appealing. The language of Kaira and her gang of friends is a part of everybody’s life, so are the ups and downs she experiences after the breakups and it’s all relatable. Alia is in superb form as Kaira. She is real and restrained. Her character doesn’t scream, screech, or bawl. And that is much to Gauri’s credit as hers. Her approach towards nursing a broken heart is nonchalance which she relays effectively, and it works. Shah Rukh looks sexy and smart as Jehangir. His banter with Alia in the first half and the introductory scene are major highlights.
Dialogues like, “Don’t let your past blackmail your present to ruin your beautiful future” don’t sound corny when you have Shah Rukh saying them in his signature charm. Conversations are entertaining and engaging when they end before they become white noise. Dear Zindagi suffers from some really long, drawn out monologues and verbal exchanges between Kaira and Dr. Jehangir. There is a scene where he compares trying out chairs to moving from one boyfriend to the other, another attempt at humour to talk about taking the easy way out rather than choosing the more obvious difficult path comes across as an exhausting attempt to build up a forced narrative.
The last half hour is when the conversation becomes personal and you are glad you waited it out. You see how good Alia can be. And Shah Rukh just looks better and better. Dear Zindagi feels like a long, unending conversation that leaves you feeling exhausted. Film Dear Zindagi is a onetime watch for all the Alia Bhatt and Shah Rukh Khan Lovers, otherwise give it a miss.
