Spoilers ahead…
Read the full review on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/zero-review-baradwaj-rangan-this-very-literal-flight-of-fancy-is-the-years-most-audacious-love-story/
In Aanand L Rai’s Zero, Shah Rukh Khan plays the vertically challenged Bauua Singh — though in one extraordinary scene, he seems to be playing himself. Earlier in the film, we have seen Bauua perform this trick. He begins counting down from ten — a precursor to him actually being part of a countdown to zero — and at the end, he swipes the sky as though it were a tablet and he was moving to the next screen. And lo, a stationary star slips out of its place and shoots across the darkness. He attempts this again at a party graced by Bollywood celebrities, but look carefully and you’ll see it’s not a lazy Om Shanti Om-like homage to stars on earth. From Sridevi (Army) to Alia Bhatt (Dear Zindagi), they’ve all been Shah Rukh Khan’s co-stars. They gather around Bauua to see him perform his trick. He tries and tries. The stars above don’t budge. Is it the 38-year-old Bauua (who keeps emphasising his dimples and stretching out his arms in love) who’s suddenly lost his power? Or are we seeing the fiftysomething Shah Rukh Khan, now in a well-acknowledged career crisis, unable to recreate the magic he once did, with the likes of Deepika Padukone and Juhi Chawla?
One of his heroines in this film is Anushka Sharma. She plays (rather showily and inconsistently) a space researcher named Aafia, who’s afflicted with cerebral palsy. The character’s profession reminds you of Shah Rukh’s in Swades, and her unusual-for-the-movies condition is something like the Asperger’s syndrome we saw in Shah Rukh, in My Name is Khan. (The latter film also appears to inspire a laugh-out-loud terrorist-themed joke from Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, who, as always, gets to play the best friend.) But if you think we’re in for another Fan-like disquisition on a star’s stardom, consider that Anushka’s teary wedding scene brings to mind the one from Ae Dil Hai Mushkil. Or that the screen goddess Babita Kumari (Katrina Kaif), too, blurs the line between true-life and on-screen fantasy. Babita gets a Sheila ki jawaani-like item song (the very catchy Husn parcham, sadly not used in its entirety). But she’s had a bad breakup with a “Kapoor”, to whom she says, later, “Main pari hoon. Band kamre mein par nikal aate hain mere.” (I’m an angel. I have wings.) Now, recall the Zoya Akhtar segment in Bombay Talkies, where Katrina played… an angel, with silvery wings. And what does one make of the dance competition reminiscent of the one in Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (a film that starred Anushka), except that, this time, it’s to impress Katrina? Could it be no accident that these heroines were chosen to star opposite Shah Rukh so that we’d remember Jab Tak Hai Jaan as well?
Continued at the link above.
Copyright ©2018 Film Companion.
Baradwaj Rangan 
saurabh
December 23, 2018
Sir great review..
only problem with this review is u hv misread katrina’s some actions..
she narrats the story of her parents but she let us/audience know that this story is fake.. by using her driver..
The scene where she is looking similar to asfia is also set up.. visible through her eyes.
The fight with bauaa at party is also set up.. visible by using her casual re entry in the party and her last convo with abhay deol
Set up to send bauaa back to aafia.. so i dont know what u saw.. though i really liked other parts of ur reading of movie..
One more point to add, anand and srk never set out to cast anushka.. they asked every other big actress but most of them didnt hb dates.. (alia and deepika)
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brangan
December 23, 2018
saurabh: Oh I know that Babita lied to Bauua. I was just using that point to illustrate the “tall story'” theory — the audience knows it’s a fale story but Bauua buys it.
About Anushka’s casting, I was just adding to the “meta” speculation of the first few paras. For all you know, the “Kapoor” angle with Katrina too may be completely coincidental. But when you see a movie, these are things that are fun to put together and think about.
Unless, of course, you are one of those who say “But did the director really intend it?”
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Marcus
December 23, 2018
It may be best to link this with another review posted here:
And will say the same thing here: “Ha! A Brilliant write-up for such a crappy film?!”
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Marcus
December 23, 2018
One simple Question – What are the guidelines that script-writers follow in Bollywood? In my line of work there are strict guidelines for architecture (I had tried to post this in another blog, but somehow that post did not get published there):
https://www.jarchitect.com/QACenter/index.php?qa=questions&qa_1=architecture-and-layering
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sahiravik
December 23, 2018
Trust Mr. Rangan to come with the most whacky anti-generic review possible. This is going to be Jhoom Barabar Jhoom all over again, but this time I’m on the other side, hahaha!
I couldn’t take Zero! It was absolutely illogical, but that wouldn’t have been a problem if it had bothered to be coherent. It was a screenplay that simply careered from scene to scene with scant regard for sense. Let me ask a big question: as good and as surprisingly convincing as Katrina was, what was the point of her character in this film? What role did she have to play? Why was she here? How would the story of Bauua and Afia have been any different without her being shoehorned in? Bauua could’ve been a commitment-phobe, and that would’ve been enough reason for him to run off from his wedding (recall Shuddh Desi Romance).
I also just got tired of the NASA segment. Again, simply incoherent – where did the chimpanzee come from? Why was he banging the stage all of a sudden? Why did Afia carry a gun onstage? And the zero-gravity scene – it struck me as just totally show-offy: I couldn’t find any reason for it to be there otherwise.
And then the film was so damn long!!! Uff.
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JC
December 23, 2018
SRK’s Jaan-e-Mann?
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Hakimokimo
December 23, 2018
I will include Zero here.
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Vidya Ramesh
December 23, 2018
I was able to go along with the movie in the first half, shah rukh plays a” chota chuthiya” but was not able to take the leaps of imagination the director and writer wanted us to in the second half. Why did he want Katrina to insult him and throw him out? I didn’t get that at all. The dots in the story were too far out to connect. Iam glad the movie worked for you, which means it might work for some more people as well and that’s never a bad thing. But I guess you will have to endure the” kasu vangitengala” jabs for this one 🙂
you are literally the only positive review I ve read .
PS: I loved Harry met Sejal and was wondering if I had lost my mind when I came back and read the reviews and comments..folks had hated it.
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An Jo
December 24, 2018
Come the second-half, and it is here that what-ever was on paper thematically, just goes hay-wire and elongated like a gum cinematically. There are some terrific moments ‘inserted’ that embody the Babita-Bauua relationship, but once the ‘itch’ for Bauua to return to his true love is initiated in the course of this relationship, it’s a giant stretch; absolutely honest in its expectation, but gone wrong in its execution. This is again in Anand’s home-territory of Jimmy Sherill’s character trying to get back Kangana in ‘Tanu Weds Manu’, but the problem is, here, it tries to reach the ‘skies’ instead of staying down-to-earth; and Aanand, to say the least, falters here. It’s a mis-step due to multiple factors: a) wedding the Aanand Rai template of North-India based love-stories onto the Shah Rukh romance template b) trying to extend the boundaries of the afore-mentioned Aanand Rai template, and c) the biggest culprit of all: Trying to ‘merge’ Shah Rukh Khan’s iconicity and romance-ridden signature onto something more ambitious, such as, subverting the super-hero genre as accustomed to the Marvel/DC comics via a vertically challenged person! Very ambitious to say the least; but lost in translation, and of course, execution.
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sanjana
December 24, 2018
If you had only been a bit kind to TOH.
TOH was plagued by trolls and it was suspected that rival fans and trolls were mainly behind that trolling. Critics like Raja sen, Sukanya Varma and almost everyone gave extremely negative reviews as in a chorus. I expected something different from you but you also joined the chorus unwittingly. WOM spread so fast with all the whatsapp messages. Tickets were cancelled as soon as the critics published their reviews or opinions.
At the end of it it was not such a bad film. An ok film.
Now Zero is getting good wom from Malala yousufzai(how come) to anurag Kashyap and yourself apart from Raja sen and Sukanya verma. And the producers are happy as these positive reviews are saving their sinking ship to some extent. It looks like audience are unable to connect to Zero as much as the critics. It will get some awards.Of course it maybe a much better film than Toh but audience response says something else.
Srk is lucky while aamir is unlucky when it comes to critics or social media.
So much so that he wants to quit films and go for web series where planned sabotages by trolls will not affect him that much.
I am not blaming you because you are not one of them. You did your duty with sincerity.
But the circumstances were such that one or two negative reviews from reputed critics sealed the fate of the film firmly like that last straw on a camel’s back.
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Saket
December 24, 2018
BR, let me just start by saying that your review is also quite audacious. You spend half of your time recounting all the meta references you could possibly find in Zero. And that’s your prerogative.
You find the absurdist elements of the film to be endearing, which again is your prerogative, but for a 200 Crore film to rely on its audience to look beyond the main text, the plot as it is presented on screen, is just…naive. It’s bold and ambitious in a way that Don Quixote was bold when he charged those nefarious windmills. I’m discussing the makers of the film, by the way.
I do understand you are viewing the film from a different perspective, sans any commercial considerations. But even so, I have differing opinions on things. One of them being the song, Mere Naam Tu. You call the choreography superb. I find it to be as generic, as unimaginative as it’s ever been. SRK’s trademark mannerisms, his charm-offensive (for his diehard fans) is on full display in the song. There are colours, yes, but the palette is as bright as it has been in any SRK song filmed amidst Swiss Alps. Where’s the originality, even in this OTT sequence?
SRK is supposed to be this typical Meerutiya guy, but from which angle does he resemble one? He sports the same hairstyle, has the same outward display of nervous energy that once propelled him into stardom, and he still stretches his arms out in his trademark pose. One can argue that he’s speaking different (earthy) lines in Zero. And that’s true, but the man speaking those lines is not a stranger. We’ve met him many times before.
Normally I would not have bothered to write such a response, but I am genuinely perplexed about this fawning over a performance that’s all surface and no heart.
Ironically, the opposite of what you give this film credit for.
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Dracarys
December 24, 2018
This only begs the question. How did BR misread Shankar’s 2.0?
A quasi fantasy movie by an actor, in a done to death romantic and often repeated role unlocks levitating words from you but a movie pushing the boundary gets a tepid review!
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brangan
December 24, 2018
Dracarys: The answer is simply that the narrative boundary-pushing in Zero is infinitely more interesting and audacious and original than anything in 2.0.
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GW
December 24, 2018
@BR: An off-topic question. I remember one of your older reviews where you had mentioned the movie to be the best rom-com film of the year (and a note about why do we shy away from claiming our movies to the best of the genre and add the “best indian” tag). Do you remember the movie? Just trying to scratch an itch.
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Marcus
December 24, 2018
@BR – Thanks for sharing the review.
I think it may be best to let go of any ‘debate’ or ‘proof’ or ‘analysis’ on the validity of Red Chillies’ producer figures for Zero.
Instead, we can enjoy the remaining days of the hols having some guilty pleasure (Simmba) OR/AND checking TOH’s chinese cut results in China.
But then again, I am not really a masala fan (sincere apologies to ‘Shetty’), nor am I sure of what Aamir can end up with after trimming off 45 mins of an ‘above’-average effort like TOH anyways. Moreover, it is likely to ‘loose’ all its showings in china with the subsequent releases of the local production ‘A Long Day’s Journey Into The Night’ or ‘Hollywood’s BumbleBee’. [ PS – I have always admired the visuals of Transformer series, although i find no attempt to make a story in those films whatsoever. Does that make me a fan? I dont know … and i dont think it matters. ]
So NO theaters for me please. I will binge-watch ‘Travelers in Netflix’.
To sign off – Happy Holidays to all bloggers.
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Varsha
December 24, 2018
Dracarys: I don’t think 2.0 deserves anything more than a tepid review, and I have not seen Zero yet, but I would do a similar comparison between BR’s reviews of Pyaar Prema Kaadhal and Pariyerum Perumal. While both were good write-ups and technically sound, I saw a lot of enthusaism in the PPK one, while the same was lacking in PP. While it’s agreeably a reviewer’s prerogative, as someone who enjoyed both movies equally, and who feels they are two extremes(the love stories and the problems therein) of the Indian society spectrum, I expected an equal treatment in both reviews. While PPK-R was delightfully satisfying, PP-R showed a lack of involvement and, hence, was a bit disappointing.
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sanjana
December 24, 2018
If absurdity is to be celebrated, I will any day take himesh reshammiya’s films. If meta is to be celebrated, I will go for your reviews than any film.
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Aman
December 24, 2018
Zero has a lot of similarities with Raanjhanaa. Much like the latter film, where the hero struggles through the entire second half trying to appease his heroine by keeping Abhay Deol’s party alive as redemption for his part in causing his death. Bauaa Singh decides to go far away from Aafia to win back her love as redemption for his earlier action of running away from her. The last time, it was for his own selfish need and now, it’s for her dream.
And about the Katrina Kaif part, Bauaa Singh is a selfish, narcissistic and entitled prick who keeps dreaming about this star, even when he finds a woman in love with him, he callously makes out with her and leaves her. It is when he reaches Katrina, the star in the sky that his gift of making stars fall are taken away and this small man’s big ego is brought to size. Perhaps even Katrina realizes this and that is why she slowly makes Bauaa realize his heart is truly with Aafia.
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Anon
December 24, 2018
Why are a bunch of weirdos having a problem with BR NOT trashing zero mainly because he didn’t like toh? That comment by sanjana is major wtf. As are many others by her. You guys are basically Hindi version of Ajit Vijay fan nonsense . Keep that to other blogs. Bloody hell.
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Aman
December 24, 2018
A fault I found in the movie was the fact that the risk Bauaa faces while going to Mars was not properly explained. All we got was a training montage resembling Rocky and did not even show him going to Mars using a voiceover to explain everything. Had they gone in the First Man route where the risks of going to space were shown beautifully, it certainly would have played better. Also Anushka’s dialogue delivery severely affected the film, with less patient viewers and the fantasy atmosphere, most of the audience didn’t get it and were just bored.
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sanjana
December 24, 2018
“Why are a bunch of weirdos having a problem with BR NOT trashing zero mainly because he didn’t like toh? That comment by sanjana is major wtf. As are many others by her. You guys are basically Hindi version of Ajit Vijay fan nonsense . Keep that to other blogs. Bloody hell.”
First try to use civil language. I have explained well about why I thought what I thought. Dont hide behind anonymous and vomit nonsense.
I definitely feel that BR was too harsh on Toh. I know who you are. Your language betrays your identity.
Everybody has a right to say what they want in a civil language unlike you.
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brangan
December 24, 2018
So the following tweet… Thaat’s a point I missed (probably during the Husn parcham song?)…
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sanjana
December 24, 2018
I defended even Neel Battey Sannata.
Nothing wrong in being a fan of certain stars. Here everyone is a fan of some star. Nothing wrong in defending against harsh criiticism. I did not mind Secret Superstar criticism that much. I am not the first one who compare films and feel the difference. On this blog itself many accused BR of favouring MR films and not giving due to Kaala.
So what is new Mr or Miss Anonymous in my comment?
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Hakimokimo
December 24, 2018
GW: I think it’s Band Baaja Baraat
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sanjana
December 24, 2018
Well, now I am sure who this Anon is. Has two or perhaps more IDs. One with a name which is respected here. The other is a mask. Similar language used before. Dismissive style and temperamental. Twitter type language. And stalking me via my comments on other blog as well. Interesting. What are my other comments that annoyed you to hell? You could have skipped them on seeing my name. Why to go through with magnifying glasses?
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An Jo
December 24, 2018
@ Aman: That’s a terrific observation and comment. Thanks.
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Aman Basha
December 25, 2018
@sanjana the absurd elements in Zero are more in the vein of a Charlie Kaufman screenplay where characters are placed in absurd and surreal situations to make a comment on Human Nature. Anyways the absurd elements in a Himesh Reshmaiyya movie pop out of nowhere but Zero establishes itself as a fantasy where anything can happen.
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sanjana
December 25, 2018
Aman Basha
“@sanjana the absurd elements in Zero are more in the vein of a Charlie Kaufman screenplay where characters are placed in absurd and surreal situations to make a comment on Human Nature. Anyways the absurd elements in a Himesh Reshmaiyya movie pop out of nowhere but Zero establishes itself as a fantasy where anything can happen.”
I took the word absurdity in isolation and so the Himesh Reshamaiyya reference.
So Zero is a fantasy? But it was advertised as a film about a vertically challenged person and his travails. So some expected it to be a seriously logical film. Especially with a heroine who is wheelchair bound.
I went through all the spoilers and it is as good as I have watched the entire movie. It is half serious, half comedy and a love triangle. A successful Mars mission which cant be called as pure fantasy. It is more scifi.
So absurdity tag fits HR perfectly.
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Aman
December 25, 2018
The major problem with the reception to Zero is the improper promotion. While I can understand where the team was going while keeping the fantasy and second half elements under the shroud, it simply made people unable to process and accept the events especially in the second half. Even more worse were all those trolls who made it seem as though this was the worst movie ever made. And to them, I have one simple point: When Sholay released, it was widely panned and had a lackluster start, now do I need to tell about how well it did. Of course, it looks highly unlikely the movie will see growth given the endless people giving it zero stars, had they actually bought the ticket, the movie’s BO collection would have had more zeros.
End Of Rant
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sanjana
December 25, 2018
If anyone is interested go through the comments to a certain post. They are simply hilarious as well as serious. I will give a link.
I said comments.
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sanjana
December 25, 2018
That post is already on this blog.
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Aman
December 25, 2018
Two cents to the meta conversation about Zero:
The whole movie storyline can be read as SRK’s career graph: He finds himself as star of the multiplexes (Anushka Sharma), but is seduced by the thought of a single screen fanbase (Katrina Kaif) and starts doing work that seems catered exclusively towards them (Post 2010 till Dilwale) however he is rejected and thrown out, when he tries to come back his original fan base doesn’t accept and to win them back, he goes with the biggest risk of his career: Zero(going to Mars).
The second part does sound absurd but then isn’t it fitting into the run by the heart universe of the film.
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Vikram S
December 25, 2018
I loved it very much, imperfections and all…there are a few beautifully written characters- a vertically challenged man dreaming of love, powerful enough to change the alignment of stars in the sky but unable to get the love he thinks he deserves. A mobility challenged girl dreaming of putting a human being on another planet. A movie star who has the love of millions of fans throwing it away for the unrequited love for an unfaithful man. There are several standout moments- SRK seeking Anushka’s permission to run away from the wedding and she gently pointing out to him that she is the best he can get. Katrina looking into the mirror and making a winking remark on the film industry obsession with fair skin, the tall tales she weaves in the car about her family, the way she treats SRK when she throws him out. Anushka and SRK floating and talking, the moment when SRKs stellar motion power is restored…I could go on…
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Varsha
December 26, 2018
To add to my previous comment, I would like to mention a point about the casting of the dog Karuppi in PP, which I came to know about much later. In the very beginning, the dog is shown to be done in by her own trusting nature. Later, we get a scene where Pariyan meets with a similar fate at a wedding to which he was invited. Actually, as the director says, we see Karuppi’s footprint throughout the movie. Just as Karuppi saves Pariyan by sacrificing herself(otherwise, how could she have prevented Pariyan’s death at the rails?!), Pariyan saves the girl, who loves him, from her family’s wrath by staying away from her. Coming back to the casting, I came to know from an article in “The Hindu”, that it fits the storyline so well. Turns out the dog is a cross-breed of Chippiparai and some other breed. One of the striking features of Chippiparai is the very trusting nature towards humans that is used as a plot point in the film. Did the director choose this dog because it suited the storyline? The article says it’s not clear. But, as BR says in a comment, these things are fun to put together and think about, and its something I sorely missed in PP-R.
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Josh
January 7, 2019
SPOILERS
Did anyone think that the ending was Anand L. Rai’s nod towards Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver”? Surreal endings are a big no in Hindi cinema but there was something dream-like about Zero’s ending. The film’s tone had drastically changed in the second half, where it became a dark and serious film. Hence, the supposedly happy ending with Bauua’s triumphant return with Aafia rooting for him couldn’t be real.
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Voldemort
January 10, 2019
Great review, BR! Loved it and loved the film as well. Like Aman said above, it is probably because the fantasy element of the film was kept hidden, many people who expected a serious love story were disappointed. If the trailer had openly claimed that it was a fantasy, a lot of people would maybe have bought it, as they’d have known what they were in for. Maybe.
R Madhavan in a haircut that clearly was inspired by a floppy cabbage leaf
LOL!
And the comparison of the sky with a tablet screen that is swiped – wow! That’s such a wonderful way to look at it!
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Voldemort
January 10, 2019
On a side note, Bollywood could probably change its name to Biopicwood. Not even one celebrity/famous person seems to be spared.
The biopics lined up for 2019 –
1. Two Narendra Modi biopics. (Vivek Oberoi and Paresh Rawal)
2.The Accidental Prime Minister (adapted from a book of the same name, nonetheless.)
3.Super 30. (Infamous IIT JEE teacher Anand Kumar)
4.Saina Nehwal’s (With Shraddha Kapoor as Saina)
5.Salute (Rakesh Sharma’s)
6.Abhinav Bindra.
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Utkarsh Dwivedi
January 23, 2019
Absolutely loved the review. I felt it had a feel of Murakami novels and its characters. I have not found a lot of people who resonated with the idea.
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Amit Joki
February 12, 2019
I found similarities with Raanjhanaa too, but what I found lack of was the rootedness of Raanjhanaa. I didn’t even get a whiff of Meerut. Zeeshan’s character was quirky just for the sake of it, it was weird.
Shah Rukh sadly looked aged with his beardless avatar, he was great in Dear Zindagi, where he had the stubble. Asifa is modelled on Stephen Hawking, but she could have very well been differently abled and nothing would have changed, at least we could have got a real performance than what Anushka delivers in this.
And I don’t get this. Who in their right mind would leave Katrina looking like that in the film and go for another girl of no note comparitively? where’s realism in our films when you need it! 😉
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silverambrosia
June 17, 2019
I found the trailer of this movie appealing and wanted to see it, but it was trashed so badly by family members who went to see it that I ended up not watching it in the cinemas. I just saw it over the weekend, and thought it was quite entertaining. It was an ambitious film in terms of its narrative, and it by and large delivered on its promise.
Why did so few people like it? It probably features Shahrukh’s career best performance: It was an impressive performance; he actually put in a serious effort and wasn’t doing his standard sappy, annoying romantic hero thing. The absurdism and OTT-ness of it all worked for me. Somehow I didn’t have all these questions that other commenters had while watching the movie; the tenor of ‘Zero’ was such that I could very effortlessly take it all in…no active suspension of disbelief was even required, it was too deliberately OTT for that. And it was pretty funny. I cracked up every time Bawwa’s friend Guddu said ‘Astaghfirullah!’. They even managed to extract an effort from Katrina, though I did find her scenes to be slightly drawn out.
I also found the casualness of tone accompanying some of the actions of both Aafia and Bawa movie to be discomfiting, They sleep together, he leaves her at the mandap, she goes ahead and marries the Madhavan character when she pretty much knows that she still loves Bawwa, she then divorces Madhavan because of her love for Bawa etc. I know Bawwa is meant to be seen as a comically arrogant, entitled upstart but she doesn’t act responsibly either. Lolz, I’m still not quite used to seeing characters casually/easily transitioning in and out of relationships in Bollywood films yet.
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Karthik
June 29, 2019
Wanted to watch this in the theatre but the unanimous bad reviews put me off. Finally, watched this just now and found it quite entertaining.
As rightly said by BR, it requires you to take a leap of faith and it works wonderfully once you do that. Loved the sequences like the shooting star one and SRK-Anushka floating in zero gravity, apart from the beautifully picturized ‘Mera Naam Tu’ song.
My only problem was with Anushka’s hammy acting and could hardly make out the dialogues. Even Katrina shined throughout her role and I’m a hater. Otherwise, a very entertaining film and definitely did not deserve the number of bashes it received.
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