Mental health issues are seldom talked about in Indian films, let alone in real life dinner or coffee conversations. As one of the characters, a "cool", fix-it-all shrink mentions - mental illness is as important as other body ailments. After all the mind (or the brain) is an intrinsic part of one's body as well. So when a mainstream Hindi film, seeks to address such a taboo issue by making it the film's core theme, you just want to rise up and applaud. That the shrink is played by one of bollywood's most popular love-gyaan gurus and his patient is played by the effortlessly charming and warm Alia Bhatt should have just made things so much easier for the director, Gauri Shinde, whose first feature, 'English Vinglish' was a complete winner.
And yet, 'Dear Zindagi' (meaning 'Dear Life') is a disappointment. I tried hard to connect with Kaira's stories, her pains but I just couldn't sympathize with her. I tried to surrender myself to the "gyaan-baazi" of the therapist but I couldn't help but get distracted by the cringeworthy one-liners and adages that he unleases to "fix" Kaira - he says "har tooti hui cheese jodi jaa skate hai" (every broken thing can be fixed). Sigh! Not that it is the fault of the actors playing these characters. Absolutely not. Both Khan and especially Bhatt, invest charm and sincerity in their roles. It is, in fact, so nice to see Bhatt maturing up to such complex roles so early in her career. But it is the badly written screenplay that chooses to rely, among other things, on wealthy, upscale lifestyles of its characters (beach-walk for therapy sessions, anyone?) and unnecessary product placements to address the noble topic of mental illness which lets the film so heavily down. Bhatt plays a cinematographer (not a photographer, mind you, as she corrects a character in the film), lives by herself in a fancy Mumbai apartment (with some assistance from her house-help of course!), has some super cool friends and handsome boyfriends/suitors who so easily fall for her. Her parents in Goa, as we see early in the film, are very endearing and don't get bothered too much by their daughter's whimsical life-choices. So then you wonder what on earth could be wrong with this girl. Why does she have meltdowns so often? To assume that rich, successful people cannot have mental problems is obviously not correct. But Shinde and her writers, make a very bad case for Kaira's reasons to seek help. Yes, we can see she is messed up. But why? We are offered glimpses of Kaira's early childhood which might have been the trigger for her mental issues but honestly, it's not enough. There are some other writing flaws that are hard to overlook. Oh and whoever thought of writing in 'Ali Zafar's unnecessary and annoying character needs to be sent to Pakistan (forgive the pun)!
So, yes, it's just the performances of the leads that makes 'Dear Zindagi' somewhat watchable. I also liked how Khan lets Alia Bhatt take the centerstage and how he doesn't really try to make it a one-man show, as is so common with most Khan films. 'Dear Zindagi' is not about him and he is not really the "lead" lead. He is there just to make the wonderful leading lady even look better. Alas, only if the director could have given them better material to work on.
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