Dear Zindagi(2016)

Plot Summary

• Kaira (Alia Bhatt) is a promising cinematographer living in Mumbai. Blunt and cynical, she is most comfortable with her four best friends, Fatima (Ira Dubey), Jackie (Yashaswini Dayama), Raunaq and Ganju (Gautmik). Kaira meets a film producer, Raghuvendra (Kunal Kapoor) on the sets of her latest film project in Singapore. Soon, they start dating and even sleep together. Kaira says that she doesn't want to do patchwork assignments and wants to shoot a full feature film. For Raghuvendra she breaks up with a Restobar owner, Sid (Angad Bedi), in between. Fatima and Jackie point out to Kaira that she has not had a long-term relationship with any of her boyfriends.Kaira is not on talking terms with her mother and ignores her calls, even though she calls her multiple times each day. Kaira has a tendency to live an imperfect life. She likes her apartment to be slightly messy (with a cushion pointing sideways and an auto-rickshaw toy also tilted on its side) and that reflects in her relationships as well. Raunak is gay and is seeing a therapist. He tells Kaira that he sought therapist as he needed to accept that he was gay and that there was nothing wrong with it.Kaira is lured by Raghuvendra for shooting a film in the US. He uses the film offer to spend more time with Kaira and then to get her to fall in love with him. He then leaves for the US early and calls from the US that he got together with his ex and is now engaged to her, leaving Kaira in a lurch. Kaira decides to work on a short film of her own.Kaira's landlord evicts her because the building residents' association is annoyed by her bohemian lifestyle and has requested, he only rent apartments to married couples and families. Kaira reluctantly returns to Goa to live with her parents, with whom she has unresolved issues. She spends many sleepless nights in unhappiness and uncertainty. Kaira's parents live her uncle (Yashwant Singh) and aunt (Salone Mehta). They all want Kaira to get married.While in Goa she seeks out Dr. Jehangir Khan / Jug (Shah Rukh Khan), a Goan psychologist after accidentally having heard him talk at a Mental Health Awareness Conference for her insomnia. Kaira was requested by her dad to shoot an ad video for his friend, who runs a hotel in Goa. When Kaira gets to the hotel, she is asked to wait for a convention to finish, which is where she hears Jehangir speak. Kaira can relate when Jug says that mental illness comes with a stigma in the country. He says that even his own parents introduced him as a gynecologist, as they felt ashamed that Jug was a doctor of the mind.She warms up to Jug's unconventional methods during their sessions, trying to use them to understand herself. Jug counsels Kaira that sometimes in life we choose the hard path as that is how we are conditioned. We are taught that anything worth achieving can only be achieved by punishment to oneself. After the session, Raghuvendra comes to meet Kaira in Goa and Kaira tells him that she has decided not to work on his movie. Raghu accuses Kaira of not being committed to any sort of relationship with him and cannot understand why she is upset at his engagement with his ex.Kaira continues her sessions with Jug, but always skirts around the root cause of her mental agony and her insomnia. Jug tries to explain that once Kaira understands herself, then it will not matter what others think of her. Jug asks Kaira to talk to her parents for 10 mins each, a task that she struggles with.Meanwhile, she meets a musician, Rumi (Ali Zafar), whom she starts to develop feelings for, but they quickly break up after she realizes they may not be right for each other. She also meets her younger brother, Kiddo (Rohit Suresh Saraf). Matters with her family come to a head when Kaira has an outburst at a family get-together where she confronts her parents about them abandoning her for years at her grandparents' house.Kaira finally narrates the story of her abandonment to Jug. Kaira's dad (Atul Kale) did not have successful export business in Goa. So, he traveled all over the world, with his wife (Aban Deohans). But for that, they left Kaira at her grandparents' house. Kaira would yearn for them to come back, but then she heard her mother talking that they cannot afford to keep Kaira with them. Kaira was devastated but decided to adjust to her new life with her grandparents. But then 1 year later, the business picks up and her parents come back to Goa and decide to take Kaira back. She lost her trust in her parents after overhearing her mother arguing with her grandfather over lying to her about their situation. Kaira could never forgive them for their betrayal.Jug tells her that she fears abandonment so much that she doesn't allow herself to commit in relationships for fear of being abandoned. He convinces her that she doesn't need to forgive her parents for abandoning her but she can as an adult see them as two regular people who made a mistake. He says, "Don't let the past blackmail your present to ruin a beautiful future." After this, Kaira makes an effort to reconcile with her parents and also works to finish her short film.At their last session, Kaira admits to Jug that she has grown to have feelings for him. Jug responds it is normal for a patient to feel this way about their therapist, and while he likes her Platonically, a relationship would not be possible between them. The two share a hug before Kaira leaves. Kaira finally completes her short film, which she had worked on for years. At the premiere, her friends, family, and previous partners are present to cheer her on. Kaira meets a furniture designer and initiates a conversation with him.

Storyline

• This is the story of Kaira, a budding cinematographer in search of perfect life. A chance encounter with Jug, an unconventional thinker, helps her gain new perspective about life. She discovers that happiness is all about finding comfort in life's imperfections.