Mahesh Bhatt calls Dear Zindagi an out-of-the-box, brave film

Filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt was the chief guest at a function to launch filmmaker Vinod Pande’s second book, Saanvri: The Story of a Concubine. Afterwards, everyone wanted to know what he thought of Dear Zindagi, starring his daughter Alia Bhatt and Shah Rukh Khan.

Speaking to reporters, Bhatt was lavish in his praise for Gauri Shinde’s second film. “I watched it and I am staggered by Gauri's work," he said. "I was awestruck by Alia. I have never seen Shah Rukh on screen the way he has emerged in this particular film. It is an out-of-the-box film, it’s a very brave film. It’s a film that makes Indian cinema proud. It is a new turn into a zone which is going to bring many surprises, many new filmmakers and a new kind of language.”

Bhatt later tweeted about the advice that legendary actor Dilip Kumar had once given him. "If you want to praise the parent you must praise their child," he recalled the veteran star as having told him, and thanked Alia Bhatt.