Salman Khan and a mini Shah Rukh Khan burn up the dance floor in the Eid teaser for Aanand L Rai’s Zero, which was released on Thursday. The film stars Shah Rukh Khan as a dwarf. As he walks on to a crowded stage, he is followed by Salman Khan, who looks unusually tall in this special appearance. The two soon break into a song and dance.
The two were last seen together in the Salman Khan-starrer Tubelight (2017), where Shah Rukh Khan had a cameo. The teaser comes ahead of the Salman Khan’s Eid release Race 3, which hits theatres on Friday.
Zero will be released on December 21.
Zero stars Katrina Kaif and Anushka Sharma in lead roles. The supporting cast includes Tigmanshu Dhulia, Abhay Deol and Sridevi, who died on February 26, in her final on-screen appearance. The film reportedly also features a host of celebrity cameos. The music has been composed by Ajay-Atul (Sairat and Dhadak). Zero is produced by Red Chillies Entertainment and Colour Yellow Productions.
Zero marks the second film headlined by Shah Rukh Khan, Sharma and Kaif after Yash Chopra’s Jab Tak Hai Jaan (2012).
In an interview with Scroll.in in 2017, Rai said that he envisioned Zero as the story of a physically limited character who is “inversely proportional to a superhero”.
“We started on the film three or four years ago, and at that time, superhero films were making a lot of money,” Rai said. “I saw the hero leap off a 250-storeyed building. I felt...let me go over to the other side. Let me make a love story about the journey of a character from Meerut who can’t even climb a chair, let alone leap off a 250-storeyed building.”
Before Zero, a notable movie centred on a dwarf was Singeetham Srinivasa Rao’s Tamil film Apoorva Sagodharargal (1989), released in Hindi as Appu Raja. Using in-camera trickery and artificial legs to make its star, Kamal Haasan, look short, the film, made on a budget of Rs 80 lakh, was a landmark in Indian cinema at the time.
On the other hand, Rai’s Zero, a multi-crore spectacle, has primarily used computer-generated graphics for Shah Rukh Khan’s character.
Buy an annual Scroll Membership to support independent journalism and get special benefits.
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!