Dear Zindagi (2016)

Dear Zindagi (English: Dear Life) is a 2016 Indian coming-of-age comedydrama film written and directed by Gauri Shinde. It was produced by Gauri Khan, Karan Johar, and Shinde under the banners of Red Chillies Entertainment, Dharma Productions, and Hope Productions respectively. The film features Alia Bhatt in the lead role, with Shah Rukh Khan, Ira Dubey, Kunal Kapoor, Angad Bedi and Ali Zafar in supporting roles. The plot centers on a budding cinematographer named Kaira, who is discontented with her life and meets Dr. Jehangir, a free-spirited psychologist who helps her to gain a new perspective on her life.^[4]

The film's development began in 2015, when Shinde signed Bhatt and Shah Rukh Khan for a film to be made under her banner. Principal photographytook place in Goa and Mumbai. The film features a score composed by Amit Trivedi and lyrics written mostly by Kausar Munir. Dear Zindagi released on 23 November 2016 in North America, two days before its worldwide release on 25 November 2016, to commercial success and critical acclaim, with major praise directed to Bhatt's performance.

The film is set in Mumbai and Goa. Kaira is a promising cinematographer. Fatima, Jackie and Ganju are her three best friends. Her cheerful life becomes a nightmare when Raghuvendra, a film producer for whom she breaks up with her childhood sweetheart, ends up engaged to someone else. Her landlord turns her out of her apartment because the building association wants to rent apartments only to married couples. This serves as a catalyst for her shift to Goa to live grudgingly with her parents. All this leads to her spending many sleepless nights.

While in Goa, she seeks out Dr. Jehangir "Jug" Khan, a Goan psychologist, for her insomnia, after having accidentally heard him talk at a Mental Health Awareness Conference. Meanwhile, she meets a musician, Rumi, for whom she begins to develop feelings, but they break up before anything serious can happen. She also meets her younger brother, Kiddo. Matters with her family come to a head when Kaira has an outburst at a family get-together where she confronts her parents about them abandoning her for years at her grandparents' house.

She finally narrates the story of her abandonment to Jug, who tells her that she fears abandonment so much that she doesn't allow herself to commit in relationships. He convinces her that she doesn't need to forgive her parents for abandoning her, but she can, as an adult, see them as two regular people who made a mistake. He says, "Don't let the past blackmail your present to ruin a beautiful future." After this, Kaira makes an effort to reconcile with her parents and also works to finish her short film.

Kaira tells Jug about how she has grown to like him over the weeks and proposes to him, requesting him to meet her more. However, he rejects this saying that despite liking her, the two will not be able to live together and he does not maintain contact with those who he thereapies. After a last hug, the two part ways, to live two different lives and two different destinies.

The movie ends with a viewing of Kaira's film where she meets a furniture dealer who might turn out to be a prospective lover.