Dear Jigra...

Okay, so here’s the thing. I did not sign up to be emotionally wrecked on a random evening with popcorn in one hand and my parents on either side silently judging my sniffles and sobs. I thought I was going in to watch a good film, maybe shed a tear if the music swelled nicely. What I did not expect was to sit there crying like someone had stolen my nonexistent younger sibling. Like, great, thanks for exposing that empty part of my heart.

I’m a single child. Which means I’ve spent a lot of time hearing how lucky I am. No fights, no sharing, no drama. But here’s the truth nobody tells you: it’s lonely sometimes. I’ve never had someone burst into my room just to be annoying or someone to tell secrets to after a bad day. Watching you made that feel a lot more real. Because you didn’t just show sibling love. You made it feel sacred. You made it feel alive. And I sat there, using the sleeve of my hoodie like it was a tissue, quietly crying over a bond I’ve never actually lived but somehow missed like it was mine.

And Alia Bhatt in this film?

Ridiculous. Too good. Unfair. She had me crying over her silent glances more than her dialogues. And that one scene where she hugs her brother like the world is ending? My heart shattered into seventeen emotionally confused pieces. And I didn’t even know I had seventeen emotionally confused pieces until that moment. Also, who let the background music go that hard while I was already sobbing? Rude.

But seriously, what you did so well was let the love speak without shouting. You didn’t turn sibling bonds into a melodramatic Bollywood festival. You made it intimate. Quiet. Real. Every little pause between them, every moment she stood by him even when it was clearly tearing her apart, it didn’t feel like a movie anymore. It felt like something real, like something I wasn’t supposed to be watching but couldn’t look away from. And honestly, a part of me just wanted to crawl into the screen and belong to that kind of love, even for a second. Not the danger part, obviously. Just love.

Watching you with my parents was an experience. Them: emotionally composed, quietly reflecting. Me: a puddle of tears whispering “Why would they do this to me?” You caught me off guard in the best way. And for someone who has always imagined what sibling love might feel like, you gave me the closest version of it.

So thank you, Jigra. For making me sob, for making me feel seen, and for giving me two hours of the most intense longing mixed with warmth. You filled a gap in my chest I didn’t know I was carrying. You made something fictional feel like home. I still don’t know if I’m okay after watching you. But I know I’m grateful.

Love,

Bhavyaa :)

(A single child who now needs emotional support and tissues every time someone mentions your name.)

Bhavyaa Chindaliya is a student in Grade 9, studying in Sanskriti The Gurukul, Guwahati.

This love letter made her the winner of our 3rd Writing Contest - writing a love letter to a piece of media you adore.

Read our top 10 contest entries here.