Zero (2018 film)

Zero is a 2018 Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy drama film written by Himanshu Sharma, directed by Aanand L. Rai and produced by Colour Yellow Productions in collaboration with Red Chillies Entertainment. The film stars Shah Rukh Khan, Katrina Kaif, Anushka Sharma and Abhay Deol, while R. Madhavan and Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub are the supporting cast. The plot revolves around Bauua Singh, a short man from Meerut who, after having difficulty finding a marriage partner, finds a companion in Aafia Bhinder, a NSAR (a fictional space research facility) scientist with cerebral palsy. However, film superstar Babita also gets close with him, testing his first relationship, before this love triangle takes them to far-off cities, thrusting Bauua into an adventure to discover both his true love and completeness in a life lived to the fullest.

The project was conceived by Rai in 2012, before pre-production commenced in 2016. Initially under the working title Katrina Meri Jaan, it went through numerous name changes before arriving at the final title in early 2018. Principal photography began in Mumbai during May 2017 and concluded in 2018 in Orlando. The soundtrack is composed by Ajay–Atul with lyrics written by Irshad Kamil, under the label T-Series.

Zero was released on 21 December 2018, to mixed-to-negative reviews from both critics and audiences alike. The lead performances (especially Khan and Kaif) and visual effects received acclaim. However, the direction, story, plot, and inconsistent screenplay were largely criticized. Despite having widespread hype prior to release, the film was one of the biggest box-office failures in Khan's career leading him to take a five year hiatus.

At the 64th Filmfare Awards, Zero received seven nominations, including Best Actor (Khan) and Best Supporting Actress (Kaif), and won Best Special Effects.

Plot

Bauua Singh, a young man from Meerut with short stature, has trouble finding a marriage partner. After using matrimonial agencies with little luck, he eventually finds his companion in Aafia Yusufzai Bhinder, a NSAR scientist (a fictionalized depiction of NASA) with cerebral palsy. In the events that followed, both fall in love with each other, but Bauua dumps her after five months. However, Aafia comes looking for him, and Bauua's parents fix their marriage. On their marriage day, Bauua's friend Guddu tells him that he is shortlisted for a dance competition he had applied for earlier, where the winner gets a chance to meet Babita Kumari, a Bollywood actress. Baua, determined to meet Babita, runs away from the marriage after a confrontation with Aafia, leaving everyone devastated.

Bauua wins and gets to meet Babita at a party, accompanied by other famous Bollywood actors. Babita offers him a job after he displays an ability to guess what goes on in people's mind by observing them. He accompanies her on film schedules and award functions, helping her patch up with her ex-boyfriend Aditya Kapoor, who had previously cheated on her. Bauua tells Babita about Aafia, who in turn falsely tells him that her parents were dwarves and her father cheated on her mother, to make Bauua realise his mistake. He realizes his wrongdoings and wishing to reconcile with Aafia, starts an argument at a party organized by Babita, following which Babita throws him out and breaks all ties with Aditya, realizing the latter is cheating on her again.

Bauua and Guddu travel to New York, where Aafia is attending a seminar. Bauaa crashes the seminar to meet her, but Aafia refuses to see him. Aafia's father tells him that Aafia was pregnant with Bauua's child, due to which she wanted him to marry her in the first place. A heartbroken Bauua decides to leave the city, but decides to try his luck one more time. After meeting with Aafia again at NSAR and getting rejected by her, Bauua enlists in a program recruiting human volunteers to be sent to Mars on a rocket. After painstaking training and getting help from one of the applicants, Bauaa gets selected, while Guddu is rejected for his vision disability. On the day of his launch, Aafia, who is supposed to marry Srinivasan, a fellow scientist and Aafia's colleague, leaves him, and she reaches NSAR seconds before Bauua's launch. Bauua assures her that he always loved her, just before the rocket takes off. The launch is witnessed by Aafia, Guddu and Srinivasan, along with Babita and Bauua's family via television broadcast. The launch is successful, and the rocket thrusts off in space.

In a voice-over by Aafia, it is revealed that Bauua eventually reaches Mars, and sends a video recording of himself from there. His rocket gets lost somewhere in space on the return journey, and Aafia waits for him. Fifteen years later, a Chinese space station receives the signal of Bauua's escape pod, which crash lands in the Pacific Ocean, revealing Bauua is still alive.

Cast

• Shah Rukh Khan as Bauua Singh, a young man with dwarfism
• Katrina Kaif as Babita Kumari, an alcoholic actress
• Anushka Sharma as Aafia Yusufzai Bhinder, a NSAR scientist with cerebral palsy
• Abhay Deol as Aditya Kapoor, Babita's love interest
• R. Madhavan as Kartik Srinivasan, a fellow scientist and Aafia's colleague
• Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub as Guddu Mukhi, Bauua's friend
• Tigmanshu Dhulia as Ashok Singh, Bauua's wealthy and successful businessman father
• Sheeba Chaddha as Beena Singh, Ashok's wife and Bauua's mother
• Brijendra Kala as Dikshit Pandey, an agent
• Preeti Singh as Bauua's sister-in-law
• Mallika Dua as NSAR Volunteer Applicant
• Nataša Stanković as Sonali
• Sushrii Shreya Mishraa as Gunjan

Cameo appearances

Production

Development

Director Aanand L. Rai conceived the film in 2012 after watching Krrish (2006) and drawing parallels of the titular character with that of American superheroes such as Superman, Batman and Spider-Man. He appreciated the achievement of Indians having their own superhero film but felt wary of the outreach, saying, "I loved seeing Hrithik Roshan fly off a 250-feet building, it was brilliantly done, but deep down I felt this wasn't us. Apart from our mythological demigods, Indians aren't ready for superheroes" and "That's what made me want to live life from the perspective of a dwarf [sic]."

The film was initially titled Katrina Meri Jaan. However, this was later scrapped because the producers thought the title would be too misleading to people and make them presume the film is about Kaif. In between productions, the film underwent numerous working titles such as Bauaa, Bauna, Butka, Bandhua and Batla. Red Chillies Entertainment registered three names for use as the film's title. In the end, a unanimous decision was made to call the film Zero, revealed in January 2018.

Bollywood Hungama reported the budget of the film to be around ₹150 crore. Rai refuted these reports and stated that the film did have a big budget at that time, but less than the reported amount, and that the amount might change. In October 2018, after post-production work was completed, the film's budget was revealed to be ₹2 billion, making it the most expensive film starring Khan. Himanshu Sharma, who wrote the script, confirmed the story to be a romantic drama. He stated that while the story does feature a little person as a character, the plot does not revolve only around that character.

Casting

Initially, Salman Khan was approached for the role in 2012. The role then went to Shah Rukh Khan. His casting was confirmed in March 2016. He plays a man with dwarfism. Rai cast Khan to play the lead role because he needed a big star for the story to penetrate globally. He needed "an intelligent actor, who also can carry that happy-go-lucky attitude," and he felt Khan possessed those qualities. Rai realised the difference between a six-foot tall person saying "I love you" and a four-foot tall person; hence he hired Khan. Khan is the fifth actor of normal stature in Indian cinema to play a little person after Kamal Haasan in Apoorva Sagodharargal (1989), Johnny Lever in Aashiq (2001), Jagathy Sreekumar in Athbhutha Dweepu (2005) and Anupam Kher in Jaan-E-Mann (2006).

After much speculation, Rai confirmed Anushka Sharma and Katrina Kaif as the female lead actors in the film in June 2017; this would be the second collaboration between the two actresses and Khan after their 2012 film Jab Tak Hai Jaan. While Kaif was the first choice for the first lead, Sharma's role was initially offered to Deepika Padukone and Alia Bhatt who play cameos in the film, they dropped out due to date issues. Sharma was reported to play a differently-abled person, whereas Kaif confirmed that she will portray the role of an actress. Both Sharma and Kaif were offered the role not because of their stardom but because they fit the role according to Rai. According to Kaif, she was offered the film before Khan was cast. She later confirmed that the script and story of Zero had changed over two years, hinting that Khan recommended this.