Dear life) is a 2016 Indian Hindi-language coming-of-age comedy drama film written and directed by Gauri Shinde.

The film stars Alia Bhatt and Shah Rukh Khan in the lead roles with Ira Dubey, Kunal Kapoor, Angad Bedi, Ali Zafar (in his final Hindi film acting credit), Yashaswini Dayama and debutant Rohit Suresh Saraf in supporting roles.

The film features a score composed by Amit Trivedi and lyrics written mostly by Kausar Munir.

Kaira is an aspiring cinematographer who dreams of directing her own films and works in Mumbai at a small firm.

Kaira's life takes a downturn when she sleeps with her friend Raghuvendra, a film producer, and then breaks up with her childhood sweetheart Sid, a pub owner.

Kaira's landlord evicts her because the building residents' association is annoyed by her bohemian lifestyle and has requested he only rent apartments to married couples and families.

While in Goa, Kaira seeks out Dr. Jehangir "Jug" Khan, a psychologist, for her insomnia after inadvertently having heard him speak at a Mental Health Awareness conference.

Shinde began working in the story at that time, and she chose Goa and Mumbai as the film's key locations.

The production crew consisted primarily of people Shinde had worked with in English Vinglish, with the exception of production designer Rupin Suchak—they are film editor Hemanti Sarkar, script assistant Krishnan Hariharan who was elevated to co-writer, language consultant Kausar Munir, who also doubled up as lyricist while playing co-writer, and cinematographer Laxman Utekar.

Shinde confirmed to The Indian Express saying, "It won't be as typical as one expects man and woman to be together.

"[12] In April 2016, it was reported that Khan would play a love guru who would help Bhatt's character to manage the attention of four people and figure out how to find her true love, and Bhatt would play the role of a filmmaker, whose experiences with all four characters would shape her life and work.

Bhatt shared the entire shooting experience by posting a group selfie with her team in Singapore, via her Instagram handle.

[22] The song "Ae Zindagi Gale Laga Le"; written by Gulzar and was originally composed by Ilaiyaraaja and sung by Suresh Wadkar for Sadma (1983); has been recreated for the film.

In the extended two-day weekend, the film collected about ₹15.8 million at the North America box office.

"[34] Ananya Bhattacharya of India Today, giving the same rating, said that Dear Zindagi is "an emotional joyride which won't harm you when watched once."

[35] Mayank Shekhar of Mid-Day also rated it 3 (out of 5) stars, saying: "This film, at its core, is conversational sort of feature, but mostly quiet, even indoorsy.

"[37] A reviewer for Bollywood Hungama giving the same rating to the film commented that Dear Zindagi was "a slow-paced cerebral and contemporary slice of life tale about the challenges today's generation of girls face in a rapidly shifting landscape.

"[41] Manjusha Radhakrishnan of Gulf News rated the film 3.5 out of 5 stars and described the tale of Bhatt as "joyously entertaining", and advised to "make a date with Dear Zindagi.

"[43] Shilpa Jamkhandikar of Reuters negatively stated: "The need to explain every moment and articulate every emotion pulls down Dear Zindagi; even the brilliant chemistry between the two leads cannot salvage the film from this fatal flaw.

"[45] Gauri Khan Karan Johar In the first week of November 2016, it was reported that Ali Zafar has been replaced by Tahir Raj Bhasin in the film due to the tensions created after the 2016 Uri terror attack and the subsequent ban on Pakistani actors by the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena.