ZERO

Zero is director Aanand L Rai's big budgeted romantic drama that stars Shah Rukh Khan, Anushka Sharma and Katrina Kaif in the lead roles. Gauri Khan produces this film that has music by Ajay-Atul.

The film follows the ups and downs in the life of Bauua Singh, a 38-year-old unmarried dwarf man from Meerut whose various attempts at finding a bride have let him down. The story takes off when he meets Aafiya, a brilliant NASA scientist affected by cerebral palsy. Tables turn when Bauua's favorite actress Babita Kumari gets close to him.

The first half of the film is quite enjoyable as the time is spent on establishing the lives and motives of Bauua, Aafiya and Babita. The jokes work, the conflict lures interest in the viewers, and some interestingly shot sequences and dialogues catch our attention. Bauua's intense fanboy moments with alcoholic superstar actress Babita are interestingly poised for further exploration in the latter half.

But the film slopes right down to Mars from the word go after midpoint. The screenplay becomes rather uninteresting and traverses in a pace that tires you without much progress. There is a lot happening on screen but nothing takes a form of rationality. Suddenly the jokes aren't working, the scenes stretch to infinty and the follow up of the conflict is gone for a toss. Monotony prevails as all the focus falls on the disabilities and personal conflicts of the three leads, eventually taking us beyond the clouds of comprehension (literally and figuratively).

Aanand L Rai's scene-staging skills don't aid Himanshu Sharma's writing. We still hold on to our seats owing to the fact that the Badshah of Bollywood is doing all he can to wrap his web around a story that is breaking down. Shah Rukh Khan's performance as a happy-go-lucky dwarf is highly praiseworthy. His character takes quite a few dimensions but is it worth the effort?

We have a fantastic Anushka Sharma cast in a role that has the ability to shoot her acting skills up. As a sweet surprise, we have Katrina Kaif in a role that requires her to do something more than showing off her fantabulous dancing skills. Her performance as a heartbroken alcoholic actress is actually commendable.

But apart from these performances, we try hard to seek solace in something that could excite us. This is when we have Sridevi, Deepika Padukone, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Alia Bhatt, Karishma Kapoor, Juhi Chawla, and a few other notable stars of Bollywood are roped in for a scene. We also have Abhay Deol and Madhavan playing cameos that add some value to the story.

The music by Ajay-Atul is laudable and the background score suits the mood of the film. Also, Manu Anand, the cinematographer has tried his level best to engage our eyes. But overall, Zero is a disappointingly ambitious attempt to fly to space. SRK's unfortunate yet abysmal run continues.