Watch: Shah Rukh Khan plays a history teacher to Alia Bhatt in this Dear Zindagi deleted scene

One of the reasons why Gauri Shinde’s slice of life drama, Dear Zindagi, from last year was loved by viewers was for the understated yet profound exchanges between Alia Bhatt’s character and her therapist, played by Shah Rukh Khan. [caption id=“attachment_3268558” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Alia Bhatt and Shah Rukh Khan in a still from a deleted scene of Dear Zindagi. YouTube[/caption] Now, the makers have released another one of those brilliant scenes featuring Kaira and Jug. This one is set in an old deserted fort in Goa, that houses the tomb of Dona Maria, a Portuguese girl who hid her identity and lived the life of a man for 14 years. She fought wars in disguise until she was forced to disclose her true identity. But it was only in that moment of self discovery that she was able to embrace herself wholeheartedly. As Jug narrates the story to a confused Kaira, his histrionics and energetic narrative style keeps one glued to the story. But the story takes quite some time to bring home the point which suggests why this important scene could have been deleted from the final cut of the film. Nonetheless, now that the scene is out, it adds a new dimension to the climax of the film when Kaira eventually discovers herself and embraces her imperfections beautifully. The use of history to hammer home a value education lesson is, in fact, a great move on Shinde’s part to bring to light the well-known saying, “Those who don’t learn from the history are condemned to repeat it.” Even though the viewers now know that Kaira did learn from the history, this scene acts as yet another factor that was instrumental in pushing her towards that moment of epiphany.

The makers released another deleted scene days ago, from the first half of the film. It is set inside an aircraft and acts as an introduction to Bhatt’s character - her temperamental nature and unpredictability. Watch the deleted scene below.