Zero Movie Review: Senseless Space Odyssey

Zero is an important film for Shah Rukh Khan’s career, as his last few releases failed to live up to the audience’s expectations and while the Aanand L Rai-directed movie created a lot of buzz, pre-release, its fate is now in the hands of Khan's fans as the film has fallen flat on its face.

Shah Rukh Khan Zero

Set in Meerut, Zero revolves around a dwarf named Bauua Singh, who is a menace. The 38-year-old matriculate wants to desperately get married and he meets world-renowned scientist, Aafia, who suffers from cerebral palsy, through a marriage bureau.

Zero Dialogues

Bauua’s first meeting with Aafia doesn’t go too great but eventually they fall in love with each other. However, like all good things, their relationship too comes to an end, as Bauua deserts Aafia at the altar after his celebrity crush Babita Kumari, who herself is a hot mess and nursing a heartbreak, kisses him on the lips during a chance meeting a day before his wedding. What happens then forms the rest of the plot.

Zero Dialogues

Shah Rukh Khan is in top form and his Bauua is a live wire. His impish little avatar is savage and will have you in splits. Though Khan is playing a midget, his charm is insurmountable. His comic-timing is bang on and he keeps the audiences engaged with his power-packed performance. SRK has carried the film entirely on his shoulders. He has come out of his comfort zone for the movie and has nailed the part.

zero trailer

Anushka is playing Aafia, a character heavily inspired by late physicist and cosmologist, Stephen Hawking and though she has put in a lot effort into her character, her act is very inconsistent. Katrina Kaif is a true diva as Babita Kumari and she is prefect in her role however, her character is very half-baked just like the script. Kat appears so perfect in her real life that it’s quite refreshing to see her play this flawed character.

Shah Rukh Khan And Salman Khan

Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub is fantastic as Bauua’s best friend Guddu and Tigmanshu Dhulia is outstanding as Bauua’s father. Sheeba Chaddha has played Bauua’s mother and she has also done a great job in whatever little screen time she has.

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Salman and Shah Rukh’s Issaqbaazi is one of the highlights of the movie and the duo’s bromance is endearing. Zero is special as it’s Sridevi’s last film. She has a guest appearance along with Karsima Kapoor, Deepika Padukone, Juhi Chawla, Alia Bhatt, Kajol and Rani Mukerji. Though the aforementioned sequence is high on star power, its quite inconsequential.

zero trailer

The first half is amazing but Aanand L Rai falters with the second half as the story moves to the US. The first half is so different from the second half that they don’t even look like parts of the same movie. Writer Himanshu Sharma took a lot of liberties while writing this wafer-thin script and most of scenes have no head or tail. How Aanand L Rai green-lighted this project is something beyond my comprehension. Though the film is a love story between two physically challenged individuals, it fails to tug at your heartstrings as it looks very fake. Thankfully the characters don’t indulge in self-pity and are not looking for anybody’s sympathy.

Zero Memes

Screenplay is very shoddy and the writing is lazy. The film has been stretched too much especially the second half. The makers took too much time to establish their characters and though the film has too many sub-plots, all are half-baked. However, they have sprinkled the film with good amount of humour.

zero trailer

VFX and CGI are excellent so Red Chillies deserves an applause for it. Dialogues are fine. Songs are fantabulous, background score is good and cinematography too is nice. This could have been a much better film had story not been so frivolous.

zero trailer

Watch this film for Shah Rukh Khan's terrific performance. Zero is strictly a one-time watch but is leagues ahead of Race 3 and Thugs Of Hindostan.