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

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.

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

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.