Some of you have waited long for a Shahrukh Khan movie. For all of you, Zero is nowhere close to what you deserve. It will even fail to satisfy the staunchest of Shahrukh Khan fans. All the fuss made in the days leading up to its release has been to little avail. Why is it that a film this hyped fails to captivate the audience? We prod a little more in the Zero film review.
Now, the premise of this movie may seem a tad bizarre. Consider this: a stunted man, Bauua Singh, from Meerut having a fling with a space researcher Aafia who has cerebral palsy only to fall for an alcoholic and jaded actress. It doesn’t require a genius to predict this story won’t be going down too well with most audiences.
Much of the problem with Zero is due to the outlandish narrative that even though ambitious in its scope is fraught with inconsistencies. Had Zero been shot at another time with a completely different crew, the chances of it succeeding would still be remote at best.
What we have here are some rather mediocre actors and one person in particular that goes by the moniker of King Khan who does not have much to show for against his name in the past few years. A rundown of Shahrukh Khan’s recent roles shows that playing a cocky dwarfed man was not going be a cakewalk for him. As it turns out, the man, now in his 50s, cannot bring to fruition the challenges presented by his character without letting the actor into it.
Anushka Sharma too doesn’t have much luck either. Playing Aafia, she finds herself maneuvering through the tough part of a scientist with cerebral palsy. The apparent lack of sensitivity bestowed upon her character becomes even more prominent as she dilly-dallies her way through her role. Katrina Kaif, who plays Babita Kumari, an alcoholic actress going through a rough patch, doesn’t hit the mark either. One would have thought that with a less-challenging role such as this she would have done better, but her minimal acting skills come to the fore yet again.
The dialogues in Zero are crass and show lack of concern towards those with a debilitating affliction. As Bauaa derides Aafia for being different from the others, it makes you cringe in your seat.
Even though the final moments of Zero are right out of an epic fantasy movie, much of the film up until then is a shoddy mess. Thus the ending doesn’t alleviate the movie’s shortcomings and only makes matters worse.
For those looking for a fantasy-based film, Zero might make for a somewhat entertaining fare if you are prepared to gloss over its paucity of substance. For the rest, you will be glad to have sat through it without getting a headache.
(1.5 / 5)
What do you think?