Mumbai: She made an impressive directorial debut with 'English Vinglish', a film which captured the struggle of a non English speaking housewife to make a place for herself in the heart of her western-mannered husband and children. With her second directorial venture, Gauri Shinde attempts a 'role reversal', this time endeavouring to capture the dilemmas of a glamorous woman cinematographer when it comes to commitment in love. 'Dear Zindagi ' revolves around Kaira (Alia Bhatt) a talented, young cinematographer with a promising career ahead of her which is, however, marred by her messy love life.
Her 'now on, now off' relationships with her boyfriends and troubled relation with her parents eventually lead her into seeing a DD (Dimaag Ka Doctor). After an interesting encounter with Jehangir Khan (Shah Rukh Khan), Kaira decides to seek his help for her problems. In an 'out of box’ ways, Jug helps Kaira open up about her problems. With his ‘cool’ advice and stories, he manages wins over Kaira’s fears and teaches her to embrace life.
A professional working in the glamour world seeking the help of a 'shrink' or counsellor to sort out her 'messy' life may not seem a perfect subject for a feature film. However the adept direction by Gauri Shinde, the effortless acting by Alia Bhatt and the 'cool' manner in which Shahrukh as Jehangir goes helping Kaira get over her fears makes for an entertaining watch.
The first half of the film sees the director build up the character of Kaira. She is shown to have a problem with commitments - quite early in the film, she breaks up with Sid (Angad Bedi) after revealing to him that she cheated on him. Later, she also has a break up with Raghuvendra (Kunal Kapoor). Soon after, she is shown to have a relationship with the musician Rumi (Ali Zafar). The audience is also shown Kaira in a strained relationship with her and her parents.
The second half shows entry of Shahrukh as Jehangir or Jug. With his 'cool' manner, Jug helps Kaira open up about the real problems which have led to her 'messy' love life. Slowly, he wins over Kaira’s fears and teaches her to live life to the fullest. In 'English Vinglish ', she came out with a realistic portrayal of relationship of a non English speaking housewife with her western-mannered husband and children.
In 'Dear Zindagi ' too, Gauri Shinde realistically captures the relationships of Kaira with her boyfriends and with her parents. Watching the film, corporate professionals in their early 20s will identify with the problems being faced by Kaira-her lack of commitment and her troubled relationship with her parents. Her casting of Alia as Kaira and that of Shahrukh as Jehangir seems to be just perfect. Watching both of them in the film, one cannot imagine any other actor essaying these roles. Gauri has also managed to draw excellent performances from the cast. The scenes between Kaira and Jehangir are the highlights of the film.
The script of the film perfectly brings out the reasons for problems in Kaira's life. Though first half of the film is a bit slow, the entry of Shahrukh in the second half fastens up the pace somewhat. In terms of performances, Alia as Kaira is clearly the highlight of the film. As the 23 tear old who faces a lack of commitment in her relationships, she comes across as effortlessly natural. She manages to hold her own in her scenes with Shahrukh. She is especially remarkable in the scene where she breaks down in front of Jehangir Khan. It is another award worthy act by her after Imtiaz Ali's 'Highway'. Her chemistry with Srk is brilliant, making their scenes together the most entertaining.
Among the rest, Kunal Kapoor looks handsome while Ali Zafar comes across as cute. As the 'super cool' shrink Jehangir or Jug , Shahrukh is endearing . As Jehangir Khan, he plays his age ans makes a 'seamless 'transition to the character actor category. Watching him give some 'cool' advice to Kaira, one wishes one had a counsellor like him to help us embrace life. Shahrukh 's performance could well fetch for him the award for best supporting actor thus year. The film boasts of excellent cinematography with Goa having been captured beautifully.
Another highlight is the sequence of Kaira’s dream. Music by Amit Trivedi is good, especially Ali Zafar’s ‘Tu Hai’ and ‘Tarefon Se’. In a nutshell, it is Alia Bhatt 's film all the way with the actress stealing the show with her 'effortlessly natural' act. Rating: 4/5: one for direction, one for performance by Alia and excellent cameo by Shahrukh, one for music and 0.5 each for script and cinematography. (UNI)