Guest appearances

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]."^[31]

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.^[32] 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.^[33] In the end, a unanimous decision was made to call the film Zero, revealed in January 2018.^[34][35][36]

Bollywood Hungama reported the budget of the film to be around ₹150 crore.^[37] 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.^[38] 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.^[5] Himanshu Sharma, who wrote the script, confirmed the story to be a romantic drama.^[39] He stated that while the story does feature a little person as a character, the plot does not revolve only around that character.^[39]

Casting

Initially, Salman Khan was approached for the role in 2012.^[40] The role then went to Shah Rukh Khan. His casting was confirmed in March 2016.^[41] He plays a man with dwarfism.^[42][43] 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.^[30][44] Rai realised the difference between a six-foot tall person saying "I love you" and a four-foot tall person; hence he hired Khan.^[31] Khan is the fifth actor of normal stature in Indian cinema to play a little person after Kamal Haasan in Apoorva Sagodharargal (1989),^[45] Johnny Lever in Aashiq (2001), Jagathy Sreekumar in Athbhutha Dweepu (2005) and Anupam Kher in Jaan-E-Mann (2006).^[46]

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.^[47] Sharma was reported to play a differently-abled person,^[32] whereas Kaif confirmed that she will portray the role of an actress.^[34] Both Sharma and Kaif were offered the role not because of their stardom but because they fit the role according to Rai.^[44] According to Kaif, she was offered the film before Khan was cast.^[48][49] She later confirmed that the script and story of Zero had changed over two years, hinting that Khan recommended this.^[50]

Tigmanshu Dhulia portrayed the father of Khan's character. He showed interest in the project after hearing about its heavy technical involvements.^[32] Abhay Deol was cast as a love interest,^[15] and Madhavan, who had previously worked with Rai in both Tanu Weds Manu films, announced his casting by sharing a selfie with Rai on the film's set in late May 2018.^[17] Khan refrained from signing any other film during Zero's production.^[51] The film features guest appearances by Salman Khan, Sridevi, Juhi Chawla, Kajol, Rani Mukerji, Karisma Kapoor, Deepika Padukone and Alia Bhatt who will portray themselves.^[52] This marked Sridevi’s posthumous appearance in a film, as she died before the film's release shortly after filming.^[32][53]

Principal photography

In August 2016, it was said that filming would begin in December 2016.^[54] This was later postponed to 2017.^[55] Principal photography of the film eventually began in May 2017 in Mumbai.^[56][57] In May, an accident occurred on the set, in which crew members were injured.^[58] In June 2017, Khan revealed that only 10 minutes of footage had been completed.^[59] Kaif joined the team on 22 September 2017.^[60] Sharma started shooting in September.^[61] On 8 January, she resumed her shooting after taking a break for a couple of weeks for her wedding.^[62] Two days later, Khan was photographed on the sets of the film in suburban Mumbai.^[63] The crew took a break during the Makara Sankranti festival.^[64] The shoot was also extended to Bandra, Mumbai.^[65] Around January 2018, Kajol completed filming for her cameo.^[66] Parts of the film were also shot in Dubai.^[67] Overall, the film took 200 days to shoot, instead of the originally allotted 140 days.^[68]

For the scenes in the film taking place in Meerut, preparations were undertaken by the producers to ensure an authentic setting. A large-scale replica of the city was reproduced in Mumbai's Film City, where special attention was given to recreating the streets (and even buildings like the famed clock-tower) accurately. Director Rai also flew 300 actors from Meerut onto the sets to simulate the "feel" of the town; actors familiar with the Meerut area, like Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, also helped Shah Rukh Khan understand and integrate local mannerisms into Bauua's character.^[69]

Visual effects were heavily used to make Khan's character three feet tall.^[42] According to Khan, this was done as "I would have a problem if I have to do it on my knees. I am trying to avoid that part because that looks unreal also, and in today's time and age, you don't want to do that."^[70] The makers took inspiration from the technology used in The Lord of the Rings. Khan noted that he had to be careful about the "little things" in enacting Bauua, such as not making his strides too long, and using a ramp instead of stairs; for many scenes, he would be made to stand in a pit (which would be edited out in post-production), so the other actors would be looking at him from a slightly higher vantage point and hence creating a sense of realism for his short stature.^[68] The character was also shot using Forced Perspective, which according to NDTV, is "a technique that employs optical illusion to make an object appear farther away, closer, larger or smaller than it actually is. It will make SRK look shorter."^[71] According to Rai, the film will use the most visual effects for an Indian film.^[72]

To better prepare for playing a wheelchair user, Sharma met with an occupational therapist and an audiologist, who taught her how to create an involuntary spasm-like action during her dialogue scenes; the occupational therapist was always on set to monitor Sharma's performance.^[20] In an interview with The Telegraph, Sharma noted that in the beginning stages of the shoot, shaping the physicality of the character was difficult for her and that she would ask for many more takes than usual because her movements didn't feel correct. During the first schedule, she asked Khan to be more patient with her during their scenes while she got used to the character, which he obliged. She observed that because the character performed involuntary movements, they were very difficult to do and required "heavy breathing, which would get me very tired and my body would go into spasms because I had tightened it so much."^[73] She eventually got more comfortable in her performance later on. In between takes, instead of returning to her normal physicality as most actors would, she would stay in the wheelchair, then "go to another mark on my wheelchair and sit there alone. I would rarely leave the wheelchair on set, and ended up staying away from everybody as well."^[73]

Kaif was initially relucatant to play Babita; to her the character "seemed like just another film star going through pain," with Kaif herself having recently reached a personal point of equilibrium after coming out a challenging phase in her life.^[74] Director Rai eventually convinced her of the role and the internal transformation the character would undertake, with Kaif noting that it was "an intense journey we went on together." Babita's vulnerability, and her continuous struggle to hide her true feelings from the world, appealed to Kaif and she eventually found the character intriguing. She noted that in real life, most people eventually hide their feelings from the real world in some way or another, and that they would find Babita relatable as she was dealing with her own issues and personal insecurities; she would often react defensively or aggressively, and yet the fact that she was "fighting for herself" gave her respectability and makes her interesting to watch.^[74]

In the behind-the-scenes video of the making of the song "Mere Naam Tu,"^[75] Anushka Sharma details the video in a voice-over, and she mentions several aspects of the song's making. She noted that choreographer Remo D'Souza directed the video and brought his trademark creativity, including the inclusion of children, into the song's dance sequence. The sequence was filmed over the course of 14 days, with Sharma mostly wearing pajamas and using a wheelchair for its duration. It was filmed in the corridor of a hotel, yet was transformed into a "fantasy land," with the addition of on-set rain and Holi colors. While on set, wheelchair user Sharma can be seen on an elevated platform while interacting with Shah Rukh Khan's character Bauua, to create the illusion of his short stature.

Most of the film was filmed entirely in Film City.^[76] In February 2018, it was reported that the post-production work of a second teaser was being carried out.^[77] From 4–8 April 2018, Khan shot the film's schedule in Vasai, Mumbai, flying in a helicopter to avoid the traffic.^[78] In middle April, the film's shooting was reported to shift to the United States for a sequence.^[52] Some sequences were also filmed in Huntsville, Alabama.^[79] Khan finished filming for Zero, and wrapped the film's principal photography in Orlando, during the month of June 2018.^[80][81]

Theatrical

Zero was released on 21 December 2018. According to film trade analyst Taran Adarsh, it was shown on 4380 screens in India and 1585 overseas (noting that additional international territories will open later), for a worldwide total of 5965 screens.^[125] Domestically, the film had the third-widest release of all Hindi films released in 2018, behind only Thugs of Hindostan (5000 screens) and Race 3 (4400 screens).^[126]

In mid-December 2018, the film passed the British Board of Film Classification with a certified 12A rating and a 164-minute runtime.^[127] In Pakistan, Zero was cleared by the Central Board of Film Censors without any cuts. It was released in 156 screens across the country by local distributor Eveready Pictures, which is said to be the highest number of screens for any film in Pakistan.^[128] The film, which was initially planned for a 20 December 2018 release in Germany, was postponed on 17 January 2019, to ensure a wider release.^[129] The film released in China in March 2019.^[130] Zero was the closing film of Beijing International Film Festival.^[131]

Home media

Upon release on home video in 2019, Zero became the top-selling film on the Google Play Store, beating Bohemian Rhapsody and A Star is Born.^[132][133] The film is also available on Netflix.

Box office

Zero collected ₹18.78 Crore at the Indian box office on its first day. In its three-day opening weekend, the film earned approximately ₹53 Crore domestically.^[6] It earned on Monday ₹9.5 Crore and on Tuesday (Christmas holiday) ₹12.75 Crore in domestic circuit.^[134][135] The USA Box office collection of Zero on Day 2 (22 December) was $283,808 (₹19.9 million) from 262 screens.^[136] The total domestic gross collection of the film is ₹87 Crore, and the overseas gross collection was $14 million according to Box Office India. The film's worldwide gross collection is ₹191 Crore .^[6] The film was considered highly unsuccessful.^[137]

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 31% of 16 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4.7/10.^[138]

Zero released to mixed reviews from critics.^[139] Most praised the film's visual effects and agreed that Kaif gave the best performance of her career, while they were critical about its plot^[140] it was "cut short by the resources at hand," and that the second half in particular was "aimless" and "scattered."^[141][142] Baradwaj Rangan gave the film 3.5 stars out of five, saying the film was "all heart" and that he found it "easy to embrace". He called the film Rai's most "fluid" film yet, and mentioned that Khan was "fantastic".^[143] Raja Sen of the Hindustan Times gave the film 3.5 out of 5 stars, calling the first half of the film "flat-out fantastic, an unabashed charm-offensive," and noting that the writing and dialogues "crackle with spontaneity and inventiveness." Yet he says that when the film outgrows the small town of Meerut, it finds it hard to keep its witty nature along with the ambitious second half; where the film should have "gone bonkers," it takes a melodramatic approach that doesn't work. Sen commends the actors, particularly Sharma's commitment to the role and Khan's tremendous energy. He implies that Khan saves the film with his trademark acting, regardless of the film's writing issues.^[144] Swetha Ramakrishnan of Firstpost praised the "ambitious" nature of the film and called it "extremely self-aware," particularly in its first half, crediting it for grounding the plot in warmth. She praised Sharma's "impassioned" role and Kaif's performance as a strong yet vulnerable actress, and commended both actresses for digging into their roles. She also praised Khan's charm and wrote, "You may or may not like the film, but you will most certainly fall in love with Bauua Singh." However, she noted that the second half felt "surreal" and that it was hard to keep up with, saying that it "falls prey to the second-half curse".^[145] Rachit Gupta of The Times of India gave the film 3 out of 5 stars, saying the film had an "inspiring concept" yet was poorly executed. He said that while the film puts forth many ideas, few of them stick and the romantic moments and visuals, while striking, only stay for a little while. The film felt too long and the second half, when Bauua travels out of his hometown, feels more audacious than the first. Yet the positive is that the characters stay upbeat despite their challenges, and the lead actors (particularly Kaif in a striking role) give good performances. Gupta concludes in saying that while the film builds up an exciting story well, it doesn't quite finish it in the way the viewer would anticipate.^[146] Ankur Pathak of Huffington Post India praised the performances of the leads, yet says that the film was "weighed down by its own excesses." While the film was ambitious, it was mostly "heightened and exaggerated and hyper-glamorized." He called the main characters excellent, and praised Khan's performance, with Kaif being "a huge revelation" and acting in ways hitherto unseen. Yet the "starkly different, bizarre visual language of the second half hampers the overall experience of the movie." Despite this, Pathak believes that Khan's performance saves the film and that "although this ride has a few breakdowns, overall, one comes out smiling..."^[147]

Rajeev Masand of News18 gave the film 2 out of 5 stars, saying that while the first half was impressive, the ambitious screenplay and ideas were plagued by an "overwrought screenplay" and that the second half that "feels like an entirely different film." He commended the effort of the actors and producers, particularly the acting of Khan; yet noted that the second half becomes undone. He said it seemed as if the writers " threw everything at the wall and decided to see what sticks. Unfortunately, very little does."^[148] Anupama Chopra of Film Companion gave the film 2 out of 5 stars, saying that it was so "bizarre and implausible and incoherent" despite having "ferociously talented people both in front of the camera and behind it." She says in the second half the "promising premise derails;" while the individual characters are interesting, the "connective tissue between...is so thin that the narrative starts to wobble." She praised the VFX, scope and imaginative feel, but was "sad" that the artistic ambition of the creators wasn't achieved.^[149] Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV gave the film 2 out of 5 stars, noting that while the impressive acting of the leads and stellar visual effects aided the film, ultimately the screenplay was its undoing and left it a "monumental mess." The plot was undermined by a "slew of whimsicalities that defy logic and an uneven tone that borders on the gratuitously facetious." He notes that while Khan's electric performance powers the film, it never gives the film enough to make sense, noting that the second half "flies too high and too helter-skelter." He commended the physical efforts of Sharma's acting and Kaif's vulnerability, yet felt that the film aimed too high without sensitively portraying the struggles of disabled people.^[150]

Anna MM Vetticad of Firstpost gave the film 1.5 out of 5 stars, saying that Shah Rukh Khan is the best part about it, and that without him the film would have little to show; the first half lets the actor have fun to the hilt, while the second tries to take a serious message but fails to deliver properly. She noted that while Zero does not have the misogyny of Rai's previous films, it also "does not know what to do with" its female characters – while commending Bauua's sharp wit and strong character in facing the odds of life. Writer Sharma doesn't know how to write about relatable women – and thus Aafia and Babita come off as "bores." Overall, the film was "a spluttering, tottering affair."^[151]

Accolades