Hello readers!
I’ve always been a movie buff ever since I was a kid. As I grew up, I became very choosy in the type of movies I watch. True that I do not watch as many movies as I used to until a few years ago, but when I do watch a movie these days, I love to analyse it and decipher its underlying meaning.
Among the many favourite movies, one movie which stands out is Dear Zindagi.
I have watched the movie thrice, but I always find something new to learn about every time. A true gem of a Bollywood movie, this is!
This blog post is all about what I learnt from the movie, hoping that by the end of it I convince you to watch it too (if you haven’t watched it, that is).
As the name suggests, Dear Zindagi is a movie about life and it’s many shades. The character of Alia Bhatt, Kaira, is a budding cinematographer. Initially, it seems that she has a life of a normal young woman with her share of the best buddies, parties and fun. As the movie progresses, more light is thrown on her struggles, trials, and tribulations. She suffers from insomnia and unhappiness, something which she cannot put a name to.
She meets Dr Jehangir Khan (played by Shah Rukh Khan), a psychologist, after listening to him address a gathering at a Mental Health Awareness Conference. What follows is a beautiful journey of how Kaira learns to let go of all of her apprehensions, accept all the wrongs that have happened in her life, accept her flaws and love her Zindagi!
I couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed at some lessons I learnt from the movie. Among the many lessons, a particular piece of advice given by Dr Khan to Kaira struck a chord with me.
“Kabhi kabhi hum mushkil raasta sirf isi liye chunthe hai, kyunki humein lagta hai important cheezein paane ke liye humein mushkil raasta apnana chahiye. Apne aap ko punish karna bahut zaroori samajthe hai. But why? Aasaan raasta kyun nahi chun sakhte hai? Kya buraai hai usmein? Aur khaas karke jab hum uss mushkil ka saamna karne ki liye taiyyar hi nahi hai.”
The essence of this powerful dialogue weakens if it is explained in English. Yet, for all my non-Hindi speaking readers, I will try to translate this to the best of my ability.
“At times, we choose the difficult path because we feel that to achieve important goals, we need to choose the harder path. We feel the need to punish ourselves. But why? Why can’t we choose the easier path? What is wrong with it? This holds true especially if we aren’t prepared to face the difficulties.”
This hit me like a rock! Such a simple nugget of wisdom, but has SO much of underlying meaning to it.
We do feel the need to prove our capabilities (to whom?), and in the process, we push ourselves a bit too much to achieve those goals. This consequently leads to dreadful repercussions. In the end, all that we feel is that we are failures. But at times, we should learn to unwind a bit and take things easy. We need to work smarter, and not harder. Everything will seem simpler and easier, won’t it? 🙂
Another line which has my heart is “Don’t let the past blackmail your present into ruining a beautiful future.” I was awestruck! How can any dialogue be this perfect? While everyone talks about trying to live in the present, we do know it isn’t as easy as it sounds. We either think about all that we have done wrong in our past or worry about what’s going to happen in the future. And in all this, we forget to celebrate what we are today. What I try to do these days is to find ONE thing, no matter how minuscule, that brings a smile on my face each day. Sometimes it is a joke someone cracked, sometimes seeing a hike in the views on my blog, and sometimes it is the weather. I do find that it does help a lot. True, some days I do feel that nothing went right. That’s okay too. However, I do realise that I feel a lot lighter on days when I do this exercise of thinking about that one thing which made me happy each day.
Dear Zindagi is such a masterpiece of a movie. One blog post isn’t enough to talk about how I feel about this movie. Plus, I do not want to reveal all the goodness the movie has to share, with you. If there is any movie which I have to recommend for every single person to watch, it has to be Dear Zindagi. If you have watched it, rewatch it. Again. And again. And again. 🙂
Which is your favourite movie? And why? Do let me know in the comments.
Until next time, stay blessed and embrace your Zindagi!
Image created via Canva
The Soulful Nib 
I haven’t watched the movie, but I still loved your take on it – I’m going to watch it now. Do post more reviews of movies you watch as you go along.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you! 🙂
LikeLike
I haven’t watched any movie in the recent past but since you recommend I will surely do it if I could get an opportunity. Very good Chetana that you could catch those meaningful sentences from movies and could recollect it as it is.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you so much! You should definitely watch it. 🙂
LikeLike
I havent watched this one yet. Will watch it sometime 🙂
Nice review 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes please do watch it 🙂
LikeLike
Very practical quote which directly relate everyone. Thank you for sharing and penning down with your soulful nib.
Well done. Keep writing
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you so much 🙂
LikeLike