Dear Zindagi (2016)

Soulful and subtle, this contemporary relationship drama revolves around Kaira (Alia Bhatt) is a promising cinematographer who wishes to direct her own films. She lives in Mumbai and she works mainly in the Indian film industry, but belongs to Goa where her parents still reside. Blunt and cynical, she is most comfortable when with her three best friends, Fatima (Ira Dubey), Jackie (Yashaswini Dayama) and Ganju (Gautmik).

Kaira's life takes a downturn when Raghuvendra (Kunal Kapoor), a film producer for whom she breaks up with her childhood sweetheart, gets engaged to someone else. Her landlord turns her out of her apartment because the building association wants to rent apartments only to married couples. All this plus dissatisfaction with her prospects at work serves as a catalyst for her shift to Goa, where she now has to grudgingly live with her parents (Aban Deohans and Atul Kale) with whom she has some issues. She ends up spending many sleepless nights in unhappiness and uncertainty.

While in Goa, she seeks out Dr. Jehangir 'Jug' Khan (Shah Rukh Khan), a psychologist, for her insomnia, after inadvertently having heard him talk at a Mental Health Awareness Conference. She warms to Jug's unconventional methods, trying to use them to understand herself.

Meanwhile, she meets a musician, Rumi (Ali Zafar), and she falls in love with him, but they break up before anything serious can happen when she realises they may not be the right fit for each other. She also reunites with her younger brother, Kiddo (Rohit Saraf), who is the only other person besides her best friends that she is closest to.

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' (Martha Xavier Fernandes and Madhav Vaze) house.

She finally narrates the story of her abandonment to Jug, who tells her that she fears abandonment so much that she does not allow herself to commit in relationships, leaving before they can leave her. He convinces her that she does not need to forgive her parents for abandoning her in her childhood. But as an adult, have the maturity to see her parents as two regular people who are capable of making mistakes, like everyone else. 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 like him. Jug responds that it is normal for a patient to feel this way about his or her therapist and while he likes her too, (in a non-romantic way) she is still his patient and he, her psychologist, and a relationship would not be possible. The two share a hug before Kaira leaves. There is a subtle suggestion that Jug might have liked her back, even romantically (but of course he can't admit that since Kaira is his patient).

Kaira finally completes her short film, which she had been working on for years. At the premiere, friends and family, and exes are present to cheer her on. This is where she finally meets a furniture designer (Aditya Roy Kapur). Life moves on.