Dear Zindagi: Great cast, unconventional story, still an average movie...

There had been so much hoopla about this movie, everyone going gaga about it. So, after almost two-months of avoiding it, I finally succumbed to the strong recommendations of two of my five inner-most circle people!

To start with, yes, it was a nice movie. It had its elements. It had a great story to tell, so many emotions to portray, and a simple message to deliver - live your life. It did it well. And, that's where my problem lies. It remained an average movie, when it could have been great. With a star-cast like SRK and Alia, this movie could have been more layered than being didactic, mundane and almost irrelevant. It seemed as if Gauri Shinde lost her zeal to the cause somewhere, as if she felt guilty of portraying such a story, as if it was too simple for her to even bring it on to the screen. Thankfully, the brilliant characters glossed over this 'glitch'. And, that's what made the public love it.

Wish it could have been great though. Interestingly, these few elements would have done the trick.

Change is not instant. Though Alia's character Kaira takes almost an year to turn her life around, the sense of the passing time was not there. It felt as if just by going to a life coach Kaira was able to achieve so much. That doesn't happen. Change is a painful and slow process. You shed each layer of you with your bare hands. Some day you take a step forward and then the other day you retreat two steps. You keep at this dance for a few times till you finally are bold enough to take the plunge. I didn't get any sense of that in the movie. The caterpillar turned into a butterfly, just like that.

Abandonment is a huge issue. We could all resonate with it. Each one of us have felt it in one way or the other. For some, it was a minor incident, for some life-altering. And, this issue was given all but 10 minutes of screen presence. The core issue from where all the relationship problems that Kaira faced was because her parents abandoned her as a kid. And, this problem was treated so lightly. All it took was a two-minute dialogue by Dr. Jug to help Kaira face her demon and slay it too! That, people, doesn't happen in real life.

Parents never change. Because they never cease to be parents. The thou-art-so-holy portrayal of Kaira's parents, especially her mom, post here sessions was irritating and unreal. For parents to change, they need to start behaving like individuals, and not live up to an ideal of being a parent. Somewhat like the mom in the new Raga watch ad.

Exes can never be friends. Those chairs or kurshis as Dr. Jug labelled them (which, by the way, was pretty offensive) were not meant to be bought and brought home. So, why bother showing all the exes hanging out together at the end of the movie. I mean it is bad enough to meet with one, but it is taking the horror story beyond the realm of Ramsay Brothers by bringing them to a soiree of how Kaira found her way through her movie! Dude, she found it by dumping each one of you...Really, get that.

Why in the name of the Lord have a clichéd ending. Ok, we get it, Kaira had issues with her romantic relationships, and she would as the time passes by make amends too. We understand that. Why dumb it down by making another kurshi (in literal sense) walk into her life at the end. And, that too Aditya Roy Kapur! We would have been happier to see Kunal Kapoor instead, he should have done that cameo instead of the ass-hole he portrayed.

So, was the hype worth it? Well, let's say, it did bring the right emotions at the right time. And, that's saying something. Rest, as my report card always read, "She is good, intelligent and hard-working, but she can do better!"