Zero

About the film

Zero is a 2018 Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy drama film written by Himanshu Sharma, directed by Aanand L. Rai and produced by Colour Yellow Productions in collaboration with Red Chillies Entertainment. The film stars Shah Rukh Khan, Katrina Kaif, Anushka Sharma and Abhay Deol, while R. Madhavan and Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub are the supporting cast. The plot revolves around Bauua Singh, a short man from Meerut who, after having difficulty finding a marriage partner, finds a companion in Aafia Bhinder, a NSAR (a fictional space research facility) scientist with cerebral palsy. However, film superstar Babita also gets close with him, testing his first relationship, before this love triangle takes them to far-off cities, thrusting Bauua into an adventure to discover both his true love and completeness in a life lived to the fullest.

The project was conceived by Rai in 2012, before pre-production commenced in 2016. Initially under the working title Katrina Meri Jaan, it went through numerous name changes before arriving at the final title in early 2018. Principal photography began in Mumbai during May 2017 and concluded in 2018 in Orlando. The soundtrack is composed by Ajay–Atul with lyrics written by Irshad Kamil, under the label T-Series.

Plot

Bauua Singh, a young man from Meerut with short stature, has trouble finding a marriage partner. After using matrimonial agencies with little luck, he eventually finds his companion in Aafia Yusufzai Bhinder, a NSAR scientist (a fictionalized depiction of NASA) with cerebral palsy. In the events that followed, both fall in love with each other, but Bauua dumps her after five months. However, Aafia comes looking for him, and Bauua's parents fix their marriage. On their marriage day, Bauua's friend Guddu tells him that he is shortlisted for a dance competition he had applied for earlier, where the winner gets a chance to meet Babita Kumari, a Bollywood actress. Baua, determined to meet Babita, runs away from the marriage after a confrontation with Aafia, leaving everyone devastated.

Bauua wins and gets to meet Babita at a party, accompanied by other famous Bollywood actors. Babita offers him a job after he displays an ability to guess what goes on in people's mind by observing them. He accompanies her on film schedules and award functions, helping her patch up with her ex-boyfriend Aditya Kapoor, who had previously cheated on her. Bauua tells Babita about Aafia, who in turn falsely tells him that her parents were dwarves and her father cheated on her mother, to make Bauua realise his mistake. He realizes his wrongdoings and wishing to reconcile with Aafia, starts an argument at a party organized by Babita, following which Babita throws him out and breaks all ties with Aditya, realizing the latter is cheating on her again.

Bauua and Guddu travel to New York, where Aafia is attending a seminar. Bauaa crashes the seminar to meet her, but Aafia refuses to see him. Aafia's father tells him that Aafia was pregnant with Bauua's child, due to which she wanted him to marry her in the first place. A heartbroken Bauua decides to leave the city, but decides to try his luck one more time. After meeting with Aafia again at NSAR and getting rejected by her, Bauua enlists in a program recruiting human volunteers to be sent to Mars on a rocket. After painstaking training and getting help from one of the applicants, Bauaa gets selected, while Guddu is rejected for his vision disability. On the day of his launch, Aafia, who is supposed to marry Srinivasan, a fellow scientist and Aafia's colleague, leaves him, and she reaches NSAR seconds before Bauua's launch. Bauua assures her that he always loved her, just before the rocket takes off. The launch is witnessed by Aafia, Guddu and Srinivasan, along with Babita and Bauua's family via television broadcast. The launch is successful, and the rocket thrusts off in space.

Production

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]."

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. 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. In the end, a unanimous decision was made to call the film Zero, revealed in January 2018.

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

Key details