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Doesn’t add up

When it was revealed that Shah Rukh Khan will play a midget in a film by Aanand L Rai (one of our favourite directors), we all sat up and took notice. Finally the Badshah Khan who loves being SRK and whom we love as SRK, the quintessential romantic, was ready to experiment.

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Nonika Singh

When it was revealed that Shah Rukh Khan will play a midget in a film by Aanand L Rai (one of our favourite directors), we all sat up and took notice. Finally the Badshah Khan who loves being SRK and whom we love as SRK, the quintessential romantic, was ready to experiment.

Playing a dwarf indeed requires immense courage, especially from a superstar of his standing and stature. Alas, the problem with a SRK film is, it remains a Shah Rukh film and doesn’t make us forget who he is.

So, even if he is playing Meerut ka launda, a vertically challenged man at that, his demeanour is befitting the star that he is in real life. So, whatever might be the dilemmas or predicament of midgets, but for some self-depreciating humour, we are not really privy to their inner world and don’t get to see how they really feel.

Yes, they feel exactly like us; love and emote the same way and can rise in love to the point of zenith. Point taken…but in the film the premise is stretched a little too far, a little too outlandish.

In trademark Rai style, the film is split in two disparate worlds. There is this matriculate Bauua Singh (Shah Rukh) obsessed with a film star and NASA space scientist Aafia (Anushka Sharma) afflicted by cerebral palsy. Despite the stark differences in their personas what binds them are their inadequacies. Or, perhaps they don’t feel deficient in each other’s presence. All very well, though straining for credulity, amidst revelry, we proceed towards shaadi ka mandap.

But then shaadi in Rai’s world is never a simple straight affair. Here, we have a runway groom for whom competing in a dance contest is more important than marrying the woman whom he was serenading just the other day with a lilting number Mera naam tu.

Hereafter, Rai doesn’t know how to bring the groom back to where he belongs. Or, coalesce the many fronts he has opened. So, we are led to the private life of heartbroken star Babli Kumari (Katrina Kaif is rather impressive as lovelorn vulnerable actor). Why, Bauua becomes her confidante, why she throws him out and finally how he lands in the US to woo back the very woman he ditched at the altar.

Take a break, there is so much happening, mostly disconnected and none that melts your heart. The only touching moment in the film is when we get to see the late Sridevi looking oh-so radiant. Of course, she isn’t the only one who has made her guest appearance (her last) in the film; there is Deepika, Alia, Karisma, Kajol and frankly we lose count.

Kamaal yeh nahi hai that they all are there, but kamaal yeh hai that all of it adds up to nothing. Sure Anushka with that twitch of her mouth tries her best and succeeds to lend credence and gravitas to her rather difficult role. Katrina is delightful as off-centre star and Khan is, well, Khan the evergreen, indefatigable, irrepressible romantic.

Among the Rai faithful, there is Madhavan and Abhay Deol too. Both the actors have featured in his well-made outings previously and, of course, the eternal friend Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub who does a fairly decent job, blonde wig notwithstanding. What goes haywire is the connection and the outlandish twists and turns trying to complete the dots.

This isn’t the first time Rai goes over the top. But if the madcap worked so well in hilariously entertaining Tanu Weds Manu and its sequel, the love tale in Raanjhanaa  was incredibly moving. Zero is neither and goes off tangent far too often, leaving us stupefied and stunned to despair. 

nonikasingh@tribunemail.com

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