Second watch, Second take: Dear Kairas, heartbreak is a personal tragedy. Dr Jug in Dear Zindagi doesn’t exist in reality

I watched Dear Zindagi again and realised something that I did not when I watched it for the first time. It's about Kaira and Dr Jug but there's more to it

By: Shalini Ojha |
May 30, 2017 5:35 pm

So I watched Dear Zindagi today, again. If you haven’t, you should definitely watch this beautiful movie directed by Gauri Shinde that features Alia Bhatt and Shah Rukh Khan. More so, every millennial needs to see this gem of the movie as it talks about relatable issues of heartbreak, job insecurities, and ambitions. When Kaira (Alia Bhatt) visited Dr Jehangir Khan (Dr Jug) to talk about her problems, which she had no clue existed, it gave all viewers a ray of hope. Dr Jug’s sessions for Kaira turned out to be a boon for her and prompted her to say, ‘Love you Zindagi’!

However, moving away from reel to real, there is not always a Dr Jug sitting in a comfortable office eager to speak to Kaira. Agreed that Dear Zindagi spoke about mental illness in a way that was not discussed before but this article is not about that. It is about heartbreaks and how it shakes all of us. It is about how the ones broke inside need to get up on their own because no Dr Jug will turn up miraculously.

Giving away a major spoiler of the movie, Kaira is cheated upon by Raghuvendra (played by Kunal Kapoor). Post her heartbreak, she goes through the usual steps — denial, frustration, anger, disbelief etc. She learns it the hard way that not everyone who says you are special means it. Lucky for Kaira, she had a Dr Jug who told her the importance of dating many men before choosing the right one. By displaying an example of chair shopping, Jehangir Khan made a valid point.

Alas, in reality, that doesn’t happen. In the real world, when the world comes crashing down, it is only you standing at the end of it all. Trying to hold on to whatever you can, joining the dots to get a clear picture and struggling hard to not blame yourself for what went wrong. Like Dr Jug pointed out in the movie, a broken heart is not allowed to feel anger openly or cry the heart out without a nearby person giving brainless suggestions to forget it all. So, where does the broken one go? Thankfully, Dr Jug had the answer to this as well.

Also read: Liked Dear Zindagi? You’ll love this deleted scene from Shah Rukh Khan and Alia Bhatt starrer even more

Towards the end of the movie when a puzzled Kaira asked her doctor whom she would turn to when she needed advice, the latter told the name of the only person worth relying on- you! No roadblock in the journey of life is big enough that you can’t get rid off it. As unbearable as the pain in the heart feels, it does get better. The anger, the lost feeling and the vow to never trust again, only make one a strong person.

Watching Dear Zindagi again, made me realise that saying ‘Just go to hell dil’ is not the tough task. The challenging part is to keep fighting with what life has thrown at you and emerging victorious each day. Because at the end, the letter you write to your life should mirror your strength and your struggles. The trick is to just hang in there.

Also, thank you for your for the gyaan, Dr Jug!