Recently Seen Movies - 9 - Page 98

A truly heartwarming story. The story is quite simple, but is narrated quite tenderly and with empathy. It is about a girl weighed down by complicated emotional baggage. She finally navigates through the troubled waters with the guidance of a psychologist.

Unlike your run of the mill Bollywood movies that show picture perfect romances or over the top heartbreak melodrama - Dear Zindagi is relatable. The relationship experiences in this movie from strained family relationships to shaky romances are everyday life. We all have experienced some elements or another. The movie unfolds as a guide on how to approach challenges in life.

Alia Bhatt is as usual superlative as Kaira. She portrays the fickleness and the vulnerability perfectly. Her smile is infections, her tears heartbreaking and there are also the moments where you want to throw your hands up in exasperation.

SRK is charming as Dr. Jehangir Khan or Jug. His performance is a lot more mature and restrained. It is characters like this that shine a light on his talent. He still gets to be goofy, lighthearted and over the top in the right moments - without hamming.

The direction is spot on and every frame and emotion is captured beautifully. This film has a lot of wonderful messages too - from destigmatizing mental health issues to allowing a woman her life choices.

On the flaws - the story takes a bit too long to develop and the second half drags a bit. There were a few plotlines, I found unnecessary.

I was not too keen on this movie when it was announced. I could not imagine how they could make it work. Even the trailers seemed lack luster. It did not have the Potter magic we are used to.

The movie blew me away though. Fantastic Beasts introduces us to a whole different wizarding world. This time it's in America of the roaring twenties - when Gellert Grindelwald was at his loathsome worst. This new imagined world has its unique flavor and charm, but manages to captivate audiences just like the original series.

Eddie Redmayne is convincing as Newt Scamander. He is odd, awkward but oh so lovable. I could imagine a scion of his line hitting it off with Luna in the distant future. Dan Fogler was hilarious as Mr. Kowalski.

The highlight of the movie were the various beasts though. They had their own personalities - especially Niffler, Bowtruckle and Demiguise.

A rare Hindi film relying on an extensive amount of conversations to tell it's story and that is what makes for an engaging watch. It is essentially a conversation driven plot that evolves through the conversations between the characters of Alia and SRK...as well as those of the supporting characters but these two take center stage.

Alia has by now mastered the art of playing the eccentric/manic pixie girl with some vulnerabilities...and this role too has shades of more of the same...except yet again (I'm getting deja vu of having said this after watching Kapoor and Sons too😆), the girl delivers an impressive and impactful performance...her talent continues to stand out...especially in the scenes where she gets to show almost unnervingly raw emotions.

SRK as the dream therapist that everyone would love to have in their lives😆...is amazingly endearing in this role...downplays it just right and gets to impart some wonderful wisdom on life in his unique baritone.

Some beautifully written and enacted scenes that really stay with you after the film...*Spoilers below*:

1) The first therapy scene when Jug narrates the Chinese mountaineers story to Kaira and she gradually gets fascinated and opens up to him...then goes home and repeats the story verbatim in front of Raghu and Jackie...trying to regurgitate Jug's gyaan😆...beautiful line in the story about, "It isn't important to always choose the difficult path...you can choose the easy path as well when you know you are not ready for the difficult path...choosing the difficult path alone does not make you a success".

2) Jug's "Kursi theory"😆...and the way Kaira takes to it so instantly...shown in a veryyy endearing fashion...also a very maturely portrayed conversation on society being hyper judgemental of women in terms of s**t-shaming.

The sheer ease of the conversations b/w Jug and Kaira is very striking...SRK-Alia had a very easy and organic chemistry in the film.

3) The scene on the ferry when Jug talks about different relationships fulfilling different needs in your life, having different kinds of soulmates and equations for different parts of your life...and not burdening a single relationship with meeting all those expectations.

4) The last therapy scene as Jug handles Kaira expressing her feelings for him...it's done so unbelievably gracefully, one has to marvel that a Hindi film managed to walk that fine balance...SRK and Ali are ACE in the scene...it's so unbelievably natural and poignant without going into cloying or cheesy territory...Kaira's honesty and heartbreaking vulnerability there and Jug helping both nurture her confidence for managing to break out of her vicious cycle of not being able to express herself and gently reminding her that Genius is about knowing when to stop😆...it's a beautiful relationship in the film.

I loved all the friendships in the film too...Jackie was ADORABLE😆.

The film drags intermittently at some points and the conversations slow down a bit but overall they manage to pull it together well...I wasn't too impressed by Kaira's final short film despite it's metaphoric implications😆...also Ali Zafar's role was quite tiresome and pretentious mostly. Actually most of the boyfriends were odd in some form or the other😆.

Definitely among the best films of the year though...should be watched for the conversations if nothing else...a lot of them very poignant, with food for thought on relationships of all kinds and life overall.

3.5/5

Simple and a beautiful movie. Alia is mesmerizing to watch while SRK is flawlessly endearing. It's the best Indian movie I've seen this year. Hats off to the director for making such a lovely movie. My fav scene is when Alia's character opens up to SRK's character and reveals about her childhood. This girl is one amazing actor and that's for sure

Highly recommended

Despite being a Potter fan, I found this movie boring. Special effects are breathtaking but I didn't connect with the story nor the lead actor. I did like the baker dude; Jacob, his character was fun interesting and fun to watch. I should have watched this movie online

I agree. Couldn't connect with any character actually. I wasted my time. They tried to make a Harry Potter, LOTR and Hobbit, but this was not even a patch on them. Blah film.

Dear Dumb.

Dear Preachy.

Dear Ham.

Dear Pretentious.

Dear Plotless.

Dear Shit.

Dear Blah.

Dear Cringe.

That's it.

My Review.

I love Harry Potter franchise. This movie was like huh what.

Jacob and the two ladies were the only saving grace of the movie, apart the graphics. Rest I dont get a single deal about this movie or hype of it after released

I love Vidya, I love Emraan, and Rajkumar is a great actor but WHAT THE ACTUAL HECK WAS THIS MOVIE?!!!!

So damn melodramatic. It can beat an Ekta Kapoor show. 😕

2/5

Decent one time watch.

VB, AR, Jugal and the kid were awesome in their roles.

It had right amount of drama, suspense though the ending scenes of AR and VB were very predictable and also I honestly felt that, though makers did amazing job of touching sensitive subject of child molestation and sexual abuse, they kind of failed to hit the perfect mark. Just my feelings. They did decent job with spreading awareness and how family tries to play blind or the blaming of the victim happens.

I liked the story line and OMG, seeing VB was treat to the sore eyes. Miss seeing her, would love to see more of her than any other actor in the industry,

3/5