'There was a superstar attached, I realised it much later,' says Aanand L Rai about Shah Rukh Khan as he opens up on the failure of 'Zero'

Shah Rukh Khan’s 2018 release ‘Zero’ remains one of the biggest box office disappointments of his career, and its failure even prompted the superstar to take a four-year break from films. Starring alongside Katrina Kaif and Anushka Sharma, the Aanand L Rai directorial struggled to connect with audiences despite its massive scale and star power. In a recent conversation, Aanand whose latest film 'Tere Ishk Mein' starring Dhanush, Kriti Sanon is the talk of the town, reflected on what went wrong and why the film didn’t land the way it was intended to.

The filmmaker admitted that he misjudged how much of Shah Rukh Khan’s persona needed to be woven into the character. He explained during an interview with Galatta Plus, “The problem with ‘Zero’ was that, that man… that superstar came to me with so much of love and me being me, I never understood that it’s not an actor director who was going to make a story. There was a superstar attached, his image is there, which I have to understand and get in the film. I was working with an actor, a big actor. I realised much later that there is an image that I had to take care of.”


He further acknowledged his struggle to blend stardom with storytelling. “When you say that my films are without the baggage of a star, somewhere I agree that maybe I am unable to incorporate that stardom in my characters. At times, people want to see their stars in a character, but a part of the star should also be there, which I was unable to do. I was floating, those bearings were not there, they were moved," he added.

Despite the film’s underperformance, Aanand L Rai cherishes the experience of working with Shah Rukh Khan. Recalling their time together on set, he said, “But, was I enjoying the journey? I was. More than me, Shah Rukh was. Later on, that was more scary. One of us should have stopped and said, ‘Hello, it’s not just actor director, there is a star.’ He never brought it in front of me, I never understood that and somewhere I lost that thing. Maybe, things would have been different!”

‘Zero’ also starred Abhay Deol, R Madhavan and Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub in pivotal roles. Made on an estimated budget of Rs 200 crore, the film ended its worldwide run at around Rs 180–190 crore, struggling to recover its cost.


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