Dear Zindagi: A Sweet Film for Metros

For years social media trolls and jokes are a plenty on the Internet about the I.Q. (or lack of it) of Alia Bhatt. Watching a movie will not help you get any close to that answer, but “Dear Zindagi” once more confirms (after Highway and Udta Punjab) that the Mahesh Bhatt—Soni Razdan progeny does indeed score high on E.Q. (Emotional Quotient).

Playing the role of a bohemian cinematographer (Kyra), Dear Zindagi gives Alia plenty of scope to emote. From munching on chillis when feeling sad to harboring dreams of making her own film, the movie gives her the whole emotional canvas to showcase her entire gamut of histrionics – the confused state of her relationship (or multiple relationships rather).

No doubt the film moves on her petite shoulders even as she jumps from the shoulder of Sid (Angad Bedi) to Raghuvendra (Kunal Kapoor) to Rumi (Ali Zafar). That said, all these emotional talks across the film (especially the first part) do not make you feel morose (like the recent Ae Dil Hai Mushkil); there is a peppy innocent charm to this movie (not the rona dhona type though), like what used to be with old Amol Palekar movies or even old SRKs like Yes Boss and Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman.

Speaking about SRK, though Alia outscores the shrink Jahangir Khan here, it is still one of his better films in recent years. I would caregorize Shahrukh movies into three types—the good (Chak De, Baazigar, Darr, DDLJ, Yes Boss etc.), the OK types (Kaal Ho Na Ho, Dil Se, Raab Ne…etc.) and the outright crappy ones (Fan, Jab Taak Hai Jaan etc.). I will keep SRK in Dear Zindagi somewhere between the first and second categories. He just doesn’t have enough screen time to elevate this to the Chak De level.

So why would you watch this movie? Especially in these difficult times of demonetization when the inability to lay hands on your own money has led to drastic reduction in discretionary spending. Well, the audience for Dear Zindagi will be primarily in multiplexes and they will either be booking through bookmyshow or paying through digital wallets. At the danger of sounding condescending, this movie is not meant for those in metros who still visit single screen theaters or those in smaller towns or cities. The emotions or the angst of the protagonists here are primarily metro-urbane; even the smart one-liners (and there are plenty of them) are ones with which men and women from Gurgaon, Vasant Vihar or Bandra would empathize with, not those from Kota or Meerut.

And how would you rate this movie? It’s difficult to fit it into a particular genre. Is it a thriller? No. A gharelu rona-dhona emotional roller coaster? No. A sex comedy, with titillating dialogues? No. A romantic prem kahani? Difficult to classify it even as that too. It is just a sweet film, which makes you happy for a few hours. In these days of standing in long queues, even that is a precious thing. Go get that with Dear Zindagi.