Movie Review : Zero

Odds that Even out

Zero

What is confidence in life? Bauua played by Shah Rukh Khan will tell you. The world has changed from being underdogs to believers in exploring every thought and idea that pops to the head. Extremes tread on thin lines and so does Bauua a loud, eccentric, extremely confident with a tall ego and short height.

One thing to give out is that you will not fall short of enjoying the various facets of this character Bauua who keeps landing himself in to difficult situations on his own accord and gets out of it through his little rough charm. I have to give it to the director Anand L. Rai to bring out such rough around the edges characters in his movies. I simply can not imagine anyone other than Shah Rukh Khan playing this character, it is so him. The king of romance even with his short height weaves the magic we have always demanded in every one of his movies. This triangle  though, is so reverse from the last Yash Raj directorial (Jab Tak Hai Jaan). We have Anushka Sharma as scientist named Afiya with cerebral palsy stuck on a wheel chair, illustrating a very close resemblance to Stephen Hawking . Katrina Kaif plays Babita Kumari an actress jilted in love and unable to move forward. Anushka fails to sell her character whereas Kartrina woes us with her near perfect performance. Most intriguing aspect to Bauua and Alifiya falling in love with each other is their ability to joke on themselves and their disability or them being differently able. The story is about three odd characters damaged in their own ways eventually finding their balance for themselves and what they truly as individuals are.  The first half of the movie is completely signature style Anand L. Rai and keeps us glued to explore all the three characters and their odd traits. However, he chooses to flip these characters in the second half which is a stretched continuation of the story line. The film should have been a two hour affair and would have been precise with its story but looks forcibly extended.

The dialogues and self jibes are hilarious in the first half and seem little over the top in the second half. The characters that seem real in the first half develop super capabilities in the second half and tend to look a little out of place from logical progression stand point.  Yet, the build up from the first half of the story keeps you rooted to know the unfolding of the characters and their romance. The dialogues for the part of Katrina Kaif are the most interesting and well delivered. I liked the part where she narrates a very complex made up story about her parents, and the second instance where she drags Bauua out of her house by his collar, are extremely fresh and flawless scenes. So, for me Katrina is the show stopper for this film. 

Zero falls short to sizzle in our heads because the complexities and tangles become difficult to manage and entangle from. It is still a great effort at a story line of differently able, yet confident people making the same ordinary mistakes as our species normally do. I will therefore implore to watch Zero for a differently able perspective to romance and its shenanigans.