ZERO Movie Review

A Big ZERO for the Script and A 100 for SRK!

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"Logic plus logic equals the illogical. Do you know what I mean? " -- Jason Schwartzman

Many of you might be wondering like me what Jason Schwartzman actually want to make us understand and it is the same feeling we have when we watch Aanand L Rai's much-hyped SRK's Christmas release 'Zero". From the outset, Aanand L Rai's ZERO is an all-out entertainer but slowly and steadily slips into becoming a total drag and clichéd film.

Like the main protagonist Bauua Singh (Shahrukh Khan) doesn't know how he landed up in Mars from the streets of Meerut, we too as audience wonder why and how we too have been taken for a ride every festival by these big budget movies, superstars and production houses. In Zero, SRK's lucky mascots like Katrina Kaif, Abhay Deol, R Madhavan, Salman Khan, the late Sridevi, Kajol, Deepika Padukone, Alia Bhatt, Juhi Chawla, Rani Mukherjee and many more make a beeline to impress you and make your Christmas merrier but unfortunately ends up dampening your spirit.

 

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Shahrukh Khan as a dwarf wins your heart. Bauua is naughty, mischievous, confused, daring, passionate, romantic and an obstinate son. He is a spendthrift according to his on-screen father Tigmanshu Dhulia. They are always at loggerheads because the former feels his son is irresponsible and lives on his money and the latter feels his father's inadequate sperm counts to be the reason for he being vertically challenged. Their interactions are hilarious and definitely tickle your funny bone.

 

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Anushka Sharma as Aafiya Yusufzai Bhinder a NASA scientist with cerebral palsy crosses path with Bauua Singh on an unusual ground and that changes the trajectory of their life. Anushka as Aafiya ­­­­tries her best to impress you by her cerebral palsy act but cannot match the performance Kalki gave us in Shonali Bose' film 'Margarita With A Straw'. Aafiya fails to touch your hearts and inspire you on what she achieved as a scientist; this might be because of its script that is so dwarfed that even these talented actors failed to revive the spirit of the film it had shown in the beginning.

Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub as Bauua's friend and sidekick is good but unfortunately, a talented actor like him has nothing special to do and except changing the colour of his hair and carry a big torch always with him because he is one-eyed and the other one is 'Made in China'.

Katrina Kaif as the Bollywood siren Babita Kumari is beautiful and too good in her dance moves but equally disappointing as a heartbroken damsel. Abey Deol as her estranged boyfriend is cool. But as mentioned earlier why the crowd of star casts here in this film is really puzzling.

 

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This much-awaited King Khan's Christmas release definitely may draw the audience to the theatre to see the dwarfed Shahrukh Khan as Bauua Singh but Aanand L Rai, unfortunately, missed an opportunity to make 'Zero' a memorable movie. The filmmaker in its enthusiasm to present a small sized Shahrukh Khan knowingly or unknowingly dwarfed it's audience expectations too this Christmas.

The VFX is good, the song Mera Naam Tu is melodious and hummable.  

In short, it's high time that the big stars either reinvent them with some sensible content-driven films or take a really long break and allow other talented filmmakers and actors to get production houses supporting and funding their creative pieces of work. Go and watch Zero if you want to see a 'Baunna SRK' or give it a skip and go to a nearby church to listen to some awesome Christmas carols and eat a lot of cake with your favourite wine.

PEN Movie Review Rating: 2/5

Cast: Shahrukh Khan (Bauua Singh), Anushka Sharma (Aafia Yusufzai), Katrina Kaif (Babita Kumari), Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub ( Guddu), Tigmanshu Dhulia (Ashok), Sheeba Chaddha (Beena), Brijendra Kala (Pandey), Abhay Deol (Aditya Kapoor), R Madhavan (Sree, Fiancé of Aafia)

Genre: Romantic Drama

Director: Aanand L Rai

Producer: Gauri Khan

Written by: Himanshu Sharma

Screenplay: Himanshu Sharma

Story: Shankar

Music and Background Score: Ajay-Atul (Guest Composer: Tanisk Bagchi)

Cinematography: Manu Anand

Edited by: Hemal Kothari

Production Companies: Red Chillies Entertainment, Colour Yellow Productions

Distributor: Yash Raj Films

Release Date: 21 December, 2018

Duration: 164 Minutes

Language: Hindi 

2.0 Movie Review

2.0: A Ho-Hum Film Packaged With Striking Visuals!

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"I'm not a big fan of CGI. I'm not a fan at all unless they use it in a way that doesn't call attention to itself " -- Billy Cambell

Shankar's latest offer to his audience has raised the bar of CGI and visual effects many notches up for Indian cinema. It is quite evident from the start to end of the film 2.0 that Shankar had a single agenda to wow the audience with technology and to make it visually overpowering. The visuals were brilliant and exploding right in front of your faces, and you just had to ensure that you cleared out of the way.

You can do anything with CGI, and Shankar like any other enthusiastic kid who has learnt how to use a new gizmo goes blazing and blasting the world with his new antics on screen. And in the melee, he loses that sort of human dimension, and he gets all the stuff breaking the rules of physics. 

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Eight years back 'Enthiran' had a heart, fell in love, was possessive, got heartbroken and a story to tell but his 2.0 version is plastic, too comical and funny. There are millions of Chitti lookalikes spread all over on the screen forming different shapes and forms and keeps on and on till you get tired of its forms and formlessness yet its creator Shankar doesn't budge to stop.

Steven Spielberg once said - "People have forgotten how to tell a story. Stories don't have a middle, or an end any more. They usually have a beginning that never stops beginning." To be frank, I am a bit frightened; if this is what 2.0 is then what will be 3.0 in store for us? Shankar please, you have many accolades to beat your chest and undoubtedly you have offered good movies to us but then remember we love you for your stories and ability to take risk to experiment but then we have a humble request too to you, please do take care of the storyline and ensure that we take some feelings back home.

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2.0 is made on a colossal budget with Rajni 'The Super Star' and the 'Khilladiyon Ka Khilladi' Akshay Kumar. The fee that Akshay took, the time he spent for his makeup for his demonic look as Pakshi Rajan, Rajni's humility and his halo around him are all there on the internet with juicy inputs and pictures. Having said this, what we need to know is Akshay as Pakshi Rajan is compelling and Rajni as Dr Vassegran and his innumerable robots are brilliant but fail to hold interest for long in their performance. The character of Pakshiraja is not built properly, the bird-loving Professor is a lone fighter and is pathetic in his struggle against the system. Amy Jackson is beautiful and is there as a robot for serving her master. Funnily the gender bias of a patriarchal society is depicted by feeding in her serials, etc to show that women are women and men will never change the way they think of woman even if she adorns the same role what men play. The main motto of the film 'save birds from radiation' has raised a pertinent question but not on strong grounds to vouch for the claim and therefore fail to call for action at least in the minds of the viewers.

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In short, if you are a fan of Rajni and like video games go ahead and watch. And if anyone of you wants to cheer for Akki for his southern movie debut as the menacing Pakshi Rajan please go ahead. If you do not fall under the above mentioned two categories please stay at home and don't spend your hard earned money on these 'Thugs' of Hindustan who mince money by their advertisement and promotional campaigns and offer peanuts in terms of real takeaways as entertainment. No offence to any of the huge fan following who love their superheroes.

PEN Movie Review Rating: 2.5/5

Cast: Rajnikant (Vaseegaran, Chitti, 2.0 and 3.0 version), Akshay Kumar (Pakshi Rajan), Amy Jackson (Nila), Sudhanshu Pandey (Dhinendra, Adil Hussain ( Home Minister), K Ganesh (Jeyanth Kumar), Anant Mahadevan (Head of Meeting), Kalabhavan Shajohn (Minister of Telecommunications)

Genre: Science Fiction Action Film

Director: Shankar

Producers: A Subaskaran

Written by: Shankar, B Jeyamohan (Dialogues) (Hindi Dialogues Abbas Tyrewala)

Screenplay: Shankar

Story: Shankar

Music by: Songs: A R Rahman

Background Score: A R Rahman, Qutub-E-Kripa

Cinematography: Nirav Shah

Edited by: Anthony

Production Company: Lyca Productions

Distributor: Lyca Productions, Dharma Productions, AA Films

Release Date: 29 November, 2018

Duration: 147 Minutes

Language: Tamil (Dubbed in Hindi and Telugu)