Believe it or not, Shah Rukh Khan is doing another love story. But there’s a slight difference, he’s playing a dwarf in this one. Any doubts over whether Khan will end up mocking dwarfism was dispelled by the teaser where Khan describes himself as a kamzarf (ungenerous) at one point. The trailer definitely shows Khan using his exuberant body language to play his most (intentionally) juvenile character in recent times. But seeing his two heroines from Jab Tak Hai Jaan reprise their roles of being SRK’s heroines is well… not very exciting.
Also ICYMI: sensitivity generally takes a hike in such mainstream films, where everyone/everything stands to serve the film. With Anushka Sharma’s character having cerebral palsy, but the approach seems to be half-baked at best. Which has left a whole lot of us hoping the depiction is sensitive enough in the final film.
Looking at Khan’s Bauaa Singh run around helplessly in Times Square, one can’t help but be reminded of similar scenes from Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, Half Girlfriend… and how puerile this trope is becoming, day by day. Maybe a good time, to retire it from Hindi films?
Watch the trailer for Aanand L Rai’s Zero, starring Shah Rukh Khan, Anushka Sharma and Katrina Kaif, here:
Points for casting Tigmanshu Dhulia as Shah Rukh Khan’s father. Ramadhir Singh has really come a long way!
