Zero, starring Shah Rukh Khan, Katrina Kaif and Anushka Sharma, fails spectacularly at giving us anything we can believe in, and we go from start to finish, with disbelief growing with each passing frame.

Shah Rukh Khan measures up. The visual effects lack continuity and he looks more like a dwarf in some scenes than others, his deformity occasionally more pronounced while he looks like a spookily smooth tiny-Khan in other sequences. The actor, however, glosses over this with a dominating performance and tremendous energy. Bauaa Singh is a severely flawed character made irresistible by his pluck, and it’s remarkable how much Khan brings to the part. And he remains the best lover in the business.

A Bizarre Story That Leaves You Stumped, And Eventually, Sad…

Zero is a fantasy ride that ends up nowhere. From writing to direction and editing, everything has failed the project. If given a chance between Jab Harry Met Sejal and Zero, I would probably go for the former. Yes, it’s that uninspiring.

Still Zero is far from a misfire. Its cheerfully absurd aspirations are strewn in metaphors laying value to imperfections and SRK’s gallery playing showmanship.

This time he spreads more than his arms. He finds wings.

Zero, riding on SRK’s back, reaches for the stars. But its astral ambitions are thwarted by a lack of imagination and genuine understanding of the minds of people struggling to ward off undeserved ridicule and earn rightful recognition. But whoever expects such niceties from a movie that rarely rises above the level of unalloyed bilge?

At one point, Zero dazzles with moments of colour and vibrancy, but then it also follows up with dull scenes that fail to launch the drama in the zone that it’s supposed to be in. Some of the comedy moments between SRK and Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub stand out, so does the song Mere Naam Tu with SRK dancing in a storm of colours. While the film has a wealth of references to Bollywood and its stars, these details don’t compensate for a story that starts with a beautiful plot, but takes off on a bizarre ride. At first go, the film makes you light and easy, which is good, but the problem is that it doesn’t really take you on that flight of entertainment, which you set out for.

“Zero” has lofty ambitions but when it comes to delivery, it falls too short.

Zero gets marks for Shah Rukh’s experiment into a space less traveled.  If you’re curious, go ahead, amuse yourelf.

The film takes off for Mars but gets its trajectory terribly wrong…

All said and done, Shah Rukh Khan as Bauua Singh makes sure you leave the cinema halls with a smile on your face.  The first half has some of the wittiest dialogues to come out of Bollywood. Watch this one for stellar performances, arresting cinematography & uproarious dialogues.

ZERO has several factors going for it: star presence, winsome performances, energetic soundtrack and of course, it’s timed during the Christmas and New Year vacations. Sadly, the weak, flawed and lacklustre screenwriting is all that you recall after you’ve watched the much-awaited movie. This one’s an epic disappointment!

…the screenplay is too disjointed. It takes you on a flight of fancy for the sheer indulgence of it. It’s like an arrow shot high in the sky. You admire its trajectory but it’s not going to stay afloat forever. To cut it short, you feel like you’re watching two different films as the first half and the second half are vastly dissimilar to each other.

Zero jerkily jostles between heartland, rustic realism, and a far-out romantic fantasy, vaguely along the lines of Shah Rukh Khan’s Om Shanti Om. The only take-away is how tough it must’ve been to pull this off

Zero works  . It celebrates  incompleteness as  no other movie in any language has ever done. Like the  film, BauaaSingh  isn’t afraid to fail. He has the great  immortal Sridevi telling him it’s okay to fail. I couldn’t ask for more. Can you?

If and when you do your next Zero, Mr Rai, do put the screenplay through the same arduous pressure test to which you would subject Tumbbad. Better still, give us more Tumbbads please.

Although the director Anand L Rai has had a glorious history, he has failed in executing the film. However, one thing that the whole team can be certainly proud of is the performances.  The whole star-cast has delivered their career-best performance in Zero and shouldered a delirious script.

Zero is an ambitious project, has various sub stories etched into its 165-minute run time. Its no hidden secret that Bauua the loner in Meerut was more enjoyable. Why do Bollywood stars always need to take the train to stardom – refer to those hi-life suave stylish livelihood. Its time for SRK to go back to his good old acting days with a sense of audience connect, that’s exactly where his strength lies.

Zero has heart and humour. It also has some fine performances by its three superstar actors. Watch it if you are in mood for a different take on love with an intergalactic experience.

As a pure fantasy feature, there was an interesting idea in Zero. Carefully designed to appeal to Khan’s core demographic – the family – while providing scope to invent an endearing character. The flaws of Zero lie not in the physicality of the characters, but in the story. Too ambitious in its vision and indiscriminately illogical, Rai falters in exploring both inner spaces and outer space. Even at 164 minutes, the narrative lurches from scene to scene, and before you can say ‘Houston we have a problem’, incredulously Bauaa is suiting up for a space odyssey.

Overall, while the film opens with an intriguing and engaging scene, the overall packaging despite being fantastical, lacks the punch.

Shah Rukh Khan, Anushka Sharma, Katrina Kaif-starrer is a half-baked love story…

The characteristic outstretched arms of SRK get smaller, as does his height, the creative ambition gets bigger but the film stays resolutely middling when it could have been much more

While credit has to be given to director Aanand L Rai for normalising disability in a romance, it is best to keep your expectations at zero to enjoy ‘Zero’.

The second half might let you down a bit, despite good performances by the cast. Initially it was an enjoyable ride, but after Bauua decides to go on space exploration, it slows down the momentum.

We love Aanand L Rai’s world and would have warmly accepted more of his imperfect and endearing small-town characters. Also, the story could have been left open-ended.

Zero drives home an important point which we often tend to neglect in our pursue for being a perfect human being. While the film has its heart in the right place, even Shahrukh Khan’s cute dimples fail to pick up the faltering second-half when the writing goes haywire.

Shah Rukh Khan, Katrina Kaif and Anushka Sharma Simply Doesn’t Work…

Shah Rukh Khan, Anushka Sharma and Katrina Kaif’s fine performances are the backbones of the film Zero. The first half is a treat to watch while the second half is too long and stretched.

Khan’s fanbase will possibly be even more perplexed with Zero. By trying to play the man next door rather than a larger-than-life personality, Khan has all too literally let himself be cut to size. The romantic declarations are less effective, the conviction with which Khan has carried off more modest romances is missing, and the package is smaller than before. As the space rocket blasts off towards Mars, the superstar is transformed into a supernova, and it’s null all the way into the void.

As for the overall film, pardon me for the brief and superficial-looking review. For one, this critique is quite adequate to describe this gigantic disappointment. For another, it is an uphill journey to find words, even more, to sit through the inordinate length of the film!

If you have nothing to do in the Christmas weekend and if you really think you can watch the leading cast without entertainment, then you can watch it. Besides, wait for the television premiere maybe it is made for that only.