I think that Hollywood filmmakers need to this movie from India to understand how to make a movie about a teenage girl who has a rare disease so they can make great movies like this instead of films like Five Feet Apart or Midnight Sun.
I have to be honest, after seeing movies like the two I mentioned in the opening sentence, I felt like I could never like a movie with this type of subject again. This movie more than proved me wrong, this is a fantastic film that is extremely moving without a bit of the forced melodrama of those previous films.
The term tearjerker is too simple to describe a movie like this. When I think of a tearjerker, what comes to my mind is a movie that is mostly about making the audience cry over how sad it is. This movie may make you cry (everybody seeing this with me was in tears at one scene). However just as much as a sad movie this is also a celebration of life. Knowing how easily she could die at any time is in many ways harder on our protagonist's parents than her. Though it does get to her at times like it could to anybody, she knows not to let this keep her from enjoying her own life. By the age of 18 she has truly lived life and done things we wish we could have done. Because of this, though we wish she could not have had this disease, she is never a subject of pity and is never defined by her tragedy, Because of this we feel complete pride and love for her. She is a truly incredible person. The fact that this movie is more than a simple tragedy is also defined by the use of narration, from our dead protagonist. She looks back at her time on Earth with great fondness and seems to enjoy telling us the story of her life. She also jokes around a lot, and keeps a good sense of humor about all that happens. This could have come off as forced and at odds with the sadder scenes in this movie. However it doesn't. This is because life is neither completely sad or completely happy. In our own lives our toughest moments are interspersed with moments of happiness and humor. This film captures this feeling perfectly. Because this is a film about life, and therefore can't be defined by one emotion. All of this is enhanced by incredible performances from the whole cast, but especially Zaira Wasim and Priyanka Chopra, as well as great direction by Shonali Bose.
This is a don't miss movie, full of real and powerful emotions both happy and sad.
-Michael J. Ruhland
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