Dear Zindagi: A Hello to Mental Health – Editorial

It made sense when Dr. Jehangir Khan in Dear Zindagi said – “Yahaan par abhi bhi, log ye samajhte hain ki dimaag ki problem hona bohot sharm ki baat hai. Body ki problem, woh normal hai. You know, jo ki sabko bata sakte hain: ‘Hey guys, I’m in the hospital. Mujhe kidney failure hai, ya lung infection, jaundice. Lekin agar dimaag ki problem ho, toh saari ki saari family ekdum silent. Jaise dimaag human body ka hissa hi nahi hai.”

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‘Sound body, sound mind.’ is a phrase read in a book. We are insisted upon a healthy body and good form. The deficiencies we consider are vitamin and mineral deficiencies. And, of course, because none of us came across a happiness deprivation tablet. Stephen Hawkins was a smiling genius in a wheelchair, and my source to derive another phrase ‘sound mind, sound body.’

When COVID-19 initially introduced itself back in March 2020, mental health became quite a prevalent issue, not that it didn’t exist before, but it wasn’t talked about all that much. And thus, in this case, cinema plays a significant role. This movie is a story about Kaira – a modern independent woman played by Alia Bhatt.

Our generation is often ween for its easy comings or fewer hardships. Of course, because our parents swam two rivers to attend school and we went by school bus. But Dear Zindagi presented the millennial strangling, the mental burden this generation deals with in this fast-paced world.

The introduction of Kaira is compelling and confident, she is strong and blunt with words, but as you zoom in, you’ll find an insecure person with trust issues. There lies the dichotomy of nature, which is highlighted in tight corners. The reason why a person is behaving the way he/she is behaving is the most important thing.

As a child, she was abandoned by her parents, and the fear of losing close ones stuck with her all these years, so to avoid this feeling, she becomes the first one to jilt. And it keeps on affecting her relationship with family, friends, and romantic partners. To emphasize that issue, how one prominent memory of tender age can become a personality trait, it becomes Kairas passive aggressive behavior to end any relationship before someone else ends it.

All of this is put before her beautifully by her Psychologist, Dr. Jehangir Khan, played by Shah Rukh Khan. Khan is cool and relaxed, detangling Kaira’s thoughts and knots and fears, whose words are medicine. Slowly and steadily, he can decipher her problems in each stage of her life, her self-made hypothesis, and her connection with friends and family.

In one of his lines, he expresses – “Bachchpan main jab rona aata hai, toh bade bolte hai sun porch. Jab gussa aata hai, toh bade kehte hai smile taaki ghar ki shanti bani rahe. Nafrat karna chase, toh ijazat nahi di. Aur jab pyaar karna chase, toh pata chala ye shall emotional system hi gadbada gaya, kaam nahi kar raha, cannot function. Rona, gussa, nafrat kuch bhi khel ke express nahi karne diya. Ab pyaar kaise express kare?”

And that is it because over the years, we’ve been taught to suppress instead of allowed to express. Even when Kaira is in her most fragile state, she is brave enough to help herself with a psychologist, accepting the fact that you need help and it’s completely okay to ask for it is the kindest thing you can do to yourself.

“Don’t let your past blackmail your present, to ruin your beautiful future!” -this dialogue is the best learning one can take away.

At the end Dear Zindagi, Kaira is seen playing kabaddi with sea waves which depicts a sense of liberation. Narrating if we let things as they are, see things as they are, without putting any filter of our presumption on them, as nature does, we can save ourselves from complicating life, and it will all be fun, breathable, and fresh.

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