Movie Review : Zero (2018)

Rating : 2/5
Genre : Drama/Romance
Year : 2018
Running time : 2.5 hours
Director : Aanand L. Rai
Cast : Shahrukh Khan, Anushka Sharma, Katrina Kaif, Madhavan, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Sheeba Chaddha
Kid rating : G

Now, as you all know – one must be very careful with and of Shahrukh Khan starrers, because he oozes Shahrukh-isms, which can result in a film being completely overshadowed with his persona. While Zero showed signs of this occurring I was swayed when I saw who the director was. None other than Aanand L. Rai, he of the too many As, and director of the very entertaining Tanu Weds Manu. So to the theater I went. But, alas, hai re meri kismat, this was not to be the film of my dreams!

Shahrukh is Bauua Singh, a bauna or dwarf, his height remaining at 4’6″. Bauua Singh, an unmarried man of 38, lives in Meerut with his rich parents (delightfully played by Sheeba Chaddha and Tigmanshu Dhulia). When he falls in love with scientist Aafia Yusufzai Bhinder (Sharma), and they proceed to the wedding mandap, all is going well until Bauua inexplicably runs away to participate in a dance competition. There he meets beautiful actress Babita Kumari (Kaif) and Aafia seems like a distant dream . . .

Zero started off well. Bauua Singh may be vertically challenged but he makes up for it in wit and charm. The first half of the film passed along very entertainingly watching Bauua’s antics. And this was mostly small-town drama – something director Rai excels at. Then came the unreal second half. The film’s plot-line took an unrealistic turn – as in, a complete break with reality. What was the script-writer smoking? Bauua Singh went from Meerut to America (that’s fine), to becoming the lone astronaut on a mission to Mars (what!). I can only describe it as absurd. Stupid. A steep flight of fancy I didn’t want to be on.

For all the soulful sighing and the angsty looks the actors gave each other, I could tell the director meant Zero to be some kinda big love story. It didn’t go there, not by far. If Aafia and Bauua were meant to go down the janam-janam-ka-saath route, they were sorely mismatched. While she was brimming with good-soulmate qualities, I failed to see the equivalent in Bauua, charm and wit aside. Bauua was a flighty loser, so why would any girl, or for that matter any audience be vested in seeing his life come to a satisfactory conclusion?

The actors did well. Sheeba Chaddha is a hoot, and Tigmanshu Dhulia is as a good an actor as he is a director (Haasil, Saheb Biwi or Gangster). Zeeshan Ayyub is fabulous here as Bauua’s steadfast friend Guddu, even though the character is sketchily defined. Shahrukh was Shahrukh, as in, he twitched his eyebrows. The gaana-bajaana was alright – nothing to right home to mummyji about. The visual effects – SRK as a dwarf were well done, although sometimes oddly, he seemed less like a dwarf and more a child sized miniature of himself.

Kidwise: Clean.