SRK-Alia chemistry works for ‘Dear Zindagi’

Mumbai - With her only release as director, Gauri Shinde has earned accolades for her directorial debut ‘English Vinglish’. Even after the success of this movie, Gauri took four years to come up with a new project. The long gap of four years seems to be justified when we look at Gauri’s latest release ‘Dear Zindagi’. Gauri Shinde has aptly screened the problems of youth and fear psychosis out of incidents happened in childhood affect their future life through ‘Dear Zindagi’. Though several things are repeated in this story, the climax takes on the higher level.
The odd pair of Shah Rukh Khan and Alia Bhatt is the biggest attraction and asset of ‘Dear Zindagi’. The movie is about Kaira (Alia Bhatt), a young cinematographer, who is talented but finds life in the company of her buddies. She wants to direct a movie of her own and she gets the chance from her love interest Raghvendra. Kaira is scheduled for a foreign trip for directorial work but finds Raghvendra engaged with his ex-beau. This setback takes her to her parents in Goa where she shows signs of frustration. Here, she meets a renowned psychiatrist Dr Jahangir Khan alias Jag (Shah Rukh Khan) who handles her very confidently and delicately. He learns about the past and present happenings of her life that made her doubtful of all relations. While being with Dr Jag, Kaira starts loving him. The doctor explains the realities of their relation and shows the way to find a partner to share joy and grief in the life.
Gauri Shinde has herself taken care of the story, screenplay, dialogues and direction of ‘Dear Zindagi’. Barring a few things, the director has succeeded in giving the movie an interesting turn at the end. Alia Bhatt of ‘Udta Punjab’ has excelled her performance in ‘Dear Zindgi’ as well. Shah Rukh Khan has put life in his role while Kunal Kapoor, Ali Zafar, Angad Bedi and alias friends have given their commendable performances. Amit Trivedi’s music, though not great, has justified its place in the movie while Laxman Utekar’s cinematography and Hemanti Sarkar’s editing excels ‘Dear Zindagi’.