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Shah Rukh Khan's Zero gets a trailer

Shah Rukh Khan's Zero gets a trailer

SRK plays a man with dwarfism, Anushka Sharma plays a woman with cerebral palsy and Katrina Kaif plays herself
02 Nov, 2018

It's been over a year that the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Zero was announced and now the trailer is finally out.

The film features Shah Rukh Khan as a person with dwarfism who is stuck in a love triangle between Anushka Sharma, a woman with cerebral palsy and Katrina Kaif, a celebrity...

The three-minute trailer tells us a lot about the plot and what we gather is that it will be just like many fun Bolly flicks before it. The difference? The gimmick that Shah Rukh is playing a person with dwarfism. And that makes us very uncomfortable.

While it's understandable that Anushka Sharma was cast as a person with cerebral palsy because an actual patient has needs a film set can't provide for, this complication doesn't occur in the case of dwarfsim, which is simply caused by a genetic variant. So we can't seem to grasp why SRK was cast in a role that an actual person with dwarfism could've been cast for. Star power? With big names like Salman Khan and the late Sri Devi set to make cameos, they have plenty of that. Pretty sure they could've saved up on the CGI budget as well.

In entertainment, it's unfortunately common for people with dwarfism to be used as the butt of a joke. Rarely do characters like Tyrion Lannister from Game of Thrones hit the screens and Bollywood had the moment to give someone that very spotlight and they missed it. Having your body transformed by CGI does not show off your acting chops either. So we're uncomfortable with this choice and the more we see it, the more awkward it gets.

Also, while we're at it, using very obvious metaphors and word play related to size is rather tone-deaf and insensitive to the dwarfism community. In an attempt to make the film commercial, it should not pander to the comfort-zone of abled folks. Again, Bollywood had an amazing opportunity and they missed it.

But hey, this was just a trailer, we hope the film serves the purpose better when it releases December 21.

Comments

Observer Nov 02, 2018 06:51pm
I tend to disagree. Displaying dwarfism is not limited to physical features. There are emotions, feelings, motivations and issues that they face which I think would be portrayed by SRK behind this love story. And for the analogy you drew with GOT, not every dwarfism movie needs to be serious and the way GOT has used, it is totally different.
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Saima Nov 02, 2018 08:02pm
There are many amazing hit bollywood flicks that you missed this week - Andhadhun, Bhadhai Ho, Pihu etc. all different genre and amazing.
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ijall Nov 02, 2018 10:52pm
people are getting sick and tired of him
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shubs Nov 03, 2018 03:01am
@Saima Absolutely! Stop being fixated on the "stars" you know. There are amazing movies being made of all genres in India, and all one sees here are reviews of the most banal ones.
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Ahmad Nov 03, 2018 10:57am
@ijall Speak for yourself Sir, He has a huge Fan base in Pakistan and around the world, people know him everywhere. Despite his movies, He is intelligent and wise if you ever have listened to him.
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Umair Nov 03, 2018 01:16pm
While we are at it let's get clerks to play the role of clerk and postman to play the role of postman.. These guys are doing acting that is presenting something which they are not SJW are just making a big deal out of nothing..
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Alexey Nov 03, 2018 02:49pm
The trailer took forever to finish!
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Samar Nov 04, 2018 10:20am
We Indians are tired of his movies.
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Indian Nov 04, 2018 08:01pm
@Ahmad You are right, he is a wise man. If we want to see how wise he is we can watch his youtube videos. But we can not watch a bad movie, just because the actor is a wise movie. Not specific to this movie, I am saying in general
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