Aanand L Rai takes blame for Zero’s failure, says ‘couldn’t incorporate Shah Rukh Khan’s stardom into the character’

In a recent interview, director Aanand L Rai opened up about the failure of his 2018 romantic drama Zero, starring Shah Rukh Khan, Anushka Sharma, and Katrina Kaif in the lead roles.

Anand L Rai talks about the failure of his film Zero with Shah Rukh Khan

Anand L Rai talks about the failure of his film Zero, starring Shah Rukh Khan.

Shah Rukh Khan’s 2018 film Zero was a major box office debacle. Following the failure of the Aanand L Rai directorial, the superstar even went on a four-year hiatus. The film also starred Katrina Kaif and Anushka Sharma in lead roles. In a recent interview, Aanand opened up about the reasons behind Zero’s failure despite Shah Rukh Khan’s stardom, and revealed that he and the actor nevertheless enjoyed the process of working together. He took the blame for Zero’s box office failure, saying while fans expected to see Shah Rukh the star, he failed to incorporate stardom into the character.

In a conversation with Galatta Plus, Aanand L Rai admitted that he made the mistake of not incorporating Shah Rukh Khan’s stardom into the character he played in Zero. “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 said.

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Aanand added, “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.”

However, Aanand L Rai recalled that the entire process of shooting Zero with Shah Rukh Khan was a rewarding experience for both him and the superstar. “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!” he shared.

Zero was written by Himanshu Sharma and produced by Colour Yellow Productions, in collaboration with Red Chillies Entertainment. The film also featured Abhay Deol, R Madhavan, and Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub. Made on a reported budget of Rs 200 crore, the 2018 film was a major box office failure, earning around Rs 180-190 crore worldwide.

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