I was just scrolling through Netflix, you know, the endless doom-scroll at 1 AM when your brain is too tired to do anything but consume. The title popped up. *Dia*. Simple. The poster was just a girl looking out a window. I was like, okay, fine, I'll bite. It was probably going to be some slow, artsy thing I'd fall asleep to. I was curled up on my couch, a blanket pulled up to my chin, the only light in the room coming from my laptop. The perfect, solitary setup for what was about to happen.
And it starts so… softly. This girl, Dia. She's an introvert, I get it. I mean, I'm not, but I know people like her. She lives in her own little world of books and routines. And then this guy, Rohit, just… barges into it. Not in a loud, obnoxious way, but in this quiet, persistent, sunshine-y way. He sees her. And the way they fall in love is so… real. It's all shy glances across a library, awkward conversations, and late-night WhatsApp chats that I felt like I was reading over their shoulder. I was smiling like an idiot. It was so pure.
There's this one scene, early on. Dia is in the college library, and Rohit is trying to get her attention. He's not saying anything, he's just… existing in her space. And the camera just holds on her face, this micro-expression of annoyance slowly melting into this tiny, almost imperceptible smile. It's the moment she lets him in. I literally leaned forward, my heart doing this little fluttery thing. It's stuck in my head because it wasn't a big dramatic confession or a grand gesture. It was just a shift. A quiet, internal shift that felt more massive than any explosion in a blockbuster movie.
It reminded me of this girl in my sociology class back in my first year of college. Her name was… I don't even remember. Something with an 'S'. She always sat by the window, and she had this really cool sketchbook. I spent the entire semester planning to talk to her. I had this whole opening line figured out, something about the professor's stupid tie. It was going to be so smooth and charming. And the last day of class, I saw her packing up her bag, and I knew this was it. It was now or never. And I just… didn't. I walked right past her and out the door. I still think about it sometimes. What if I had just said hi? Anyway.
So I'm watching Dia and Rohit's story unfold, and I'm fully invested. I'm rooting for them. And then… the movie just… stops. It hits a wall. A literal, screeching-tires, shattering-glass wall. I physically jolted on my couch. I think I said "No!" out loud. My blanket fell off. I had to hit pause. The silence in my room after the chaos on screen was just… deafening. I was just staring at my laptop, my heart hammering against my ribs. It felt so personal, like I'd just gotten a phone call with terrible news.
And then the second half happens. And it's a completely different movie. It's about grief. It's about this other guy, Adi, who's just… broken. And Dia has to piece herself back together while trying to help him piece himself back together. It's so delicate and so sad. I thought I loved it. I thought it was this beautiful, poignant exploration of loss and moving on. But now that I'm typing this, my brain is starting to second-guess itself. Was it actually kind of… manipulative? The way the plot conveniently brings this new person into her life, a person who is also connected to her past? Was it genuinely moving, or was it just using sad music and soft lighting to push my emotional buttons? I don't know. My emotions are all scrambled.
Honestly, watching it at home on Netflix was the only way to see this. If I'd been in a cinema, surrounded by people, the intimacy would have been lost. This felt like a secret I was sharing with the characters. I was in my little bubble, the glow of the screen lighting up my face, and I could feel every awkward silence, every unspoken tear. I paused it so many times, just to take a breath. To look at my dark window and remind myself that it was just a movie. But it didn't feel like a movie. It felt like a memory.
The ending. Oh god, the ending. I'm not going to spoil it, but there's this final shot. Dia is in a cafe, and the light is hitting her face in this perfect, golden-hour way. And she looks up, and her expression just… changes. It’s this tiny, fragile flicker of hope. It’s not a big, Hollywood smile. It’s something much smaller and much more real. It’s the look of someone who has been through hell and has decided, maybe, just maybe, to take another step forward. And I just lost it. I was a mess. A 21-year-old guy, crying at a movie on his couch at 2 AM. It's fine. I'm fine.
So yeah. *Dia*. It's a simple story about a complicated feeling. It’s a movie that sneaks up on you and just… breaks your heart, and then very gently tries to put it back together. I feel like I need to go for a walk or something, but it's the middle of the night. So I'll just sit here in the dark for a little while longer.
Okay. I'm done.
8.5/10. - decent
-Ishaan