Few of you who have watched Fan might remember one scene from the film where Gaurav meets Aryan Khanna only to be shunned by him. Whatever goes downhill from that moment on is a result Gaurav's rage against his idol who lets him down.
Watching Zero was a very similar experience. It would be difficult to discuss to story or the lack thereof so let me just take this opportunity to voice my displeasure as an audience who got taken for granted.
One of the most awaited films of the year, Zero is a disappointment of epic proportions. What could have been a simple film about romances and heartbreaks is unnecessarily converted into a convoluted junk that has so much to do on their list but making sense is not one of them, unfortunately.
Despite plot holes and shaky writing, the first half still sails through due to smart dialoguebaazi and Shah Rukh's ineffable charm. Especially, the scenes between Shah Rukh and Zeeshan Ayyub and the Meerutiya Hindi gives a lot of fun moments. Shah Rukh, Anushka, Katrina, Tigmanshu Dhulia give performances that you genuinely can't find flaws with. Katrina, probably, gives the best performance of her career, but all of that quickly fades into oblivion when Zero stops making sense entirely.
The script, it seems, has been specially crafted to challenge all notions of intelligence, believability and above all cohesion. It is almost painful to watch Shah Rukh and other actors deliver the frustrating script with such conviction. Plot points come and go without any relevance whatsoever and in the last one hour, the movie seems like a deliberate insult to the intelligence of the audience.
Anand L Rai who is usually one of the most masterful storytellers we have in the industry is completely clueless about the story he wants to tell or the emotions he wants to evoke. Hadn't it been for the flavor of UP being so evident, I would have personally refused to believe that Anand L Rai directed this film. It is exceedingly hard to say this, but Rai is probably one of those who do not know how to handle a big budget.
For once, with all his charm and antics, Bauua Singh is a character that is difficult to root for, Aafiya's motives and thought process is impossible to understand and Babita's character or track in the movie actually makes little difference to the actual conclusion of the film.
Apart from Salman, there are a bunch of cameos that seem totally pointless and honestly a little desperate on Shah Rukh's part.
Apart from the performances, the cinematography and VFX are both top-notch but again none of it matters when the script is so impossibly ridiculous.
I could try writing and venting my disappointment but all of it will boils down to one thing- the ridiculously bad script. Honestly, it takes a rare talent to write a script so bad that makes great performances and awe-inspiring visuals pale in comparison. Can't even imagine even the biggest Shah Rukh fan enjoying this two and a half hour long montage of sheer ridiculousness.
Updated: December 26, 2018 05:39 PM IST
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