Dear Zindagi felt like an honest depiction of the lives of the 20-somethings trying to navigate through life. It’s like a warm hug and gave us a beautiful story, a sense that things can get better, that we can get better, and dialogues that stayed with us long after the movie ended. With the movie celebrating six years of its release, here are a few things that the SRK and Alia Bhatt starrer Dear Zindagi gave us.
1. Dear Zindagi started the conversation about mental health
Our society is still fighting the stigma around mental health. Bringing the audience a movie which showcases the importance and normalcy of therapy was not just a welcome move, but also much-needed. Dear Zindagi served as a conversation starter around mental health – showcased how ‘normal’ things can also be mental issues.
2. It served as a reminder that parents can make mistakes too
We keep our parents on a pedestal and assume, and somewhat expect, them to never do anything wrong. Dear Zindagi helped us realize that our parents are humans too – and can make mistakes. When we see them from the lenses of normal human beings, their mistakes look just like that – mistakes.
3. It made us understand the importance of letting go
Even from our childhood, we’re taught to keep things inside, we hold so much within ourselves that sometimes it results in an explosion which harms both us and those around us. Dear Zindagi showed us what exactly it looks like and why it is important to let go.
4. It can be hard to let people in, but sometimes it’s important
All through our lives, we try to share things with those around us, but when we get shunned by them we also shut the door within us. With every rejection, we start building walls. After a while, the lock gets so strong and the walls so big that they stop people from entering or seeing the chaos going on inside of us. And that leaves us isolated and alone. When we grow up, we need to find people we can let in. It could be hard but it’s very important.
5. Dear Zindagi taught us the importance of accepting your emotions, accepting yourself
Just like Kiara, we might try to give our emotional pain a physical form – because it’s easier to understand. But it’s important to accept how you are feeling and why are you feeling so, it’s important to accept yourself.
6. You deserve a big warm hug – from yourself more than anyone else
More than the acceptance from others, we need to accept ourselves. More than wanting others to understand us, we need to understand ourselves. More than a hug from others, we need that accepting hug from ourselves.
This ‘letter to life’ in the form of a movie was a much-needed, refreshing outlook on mental health issues. We are glad we got to receive this warm hug that taught us so much.