Aanand L Rai on casting Shah Rukh Khan in Zero: 'Even if you cut his feet; he'd still stand tall'
Aanand L Rai's upcoming film Zero, starring Shah Rukh Khan, is easily the most anticipated projects of 2018. Khan had reveled the title and teaser of the film on New Year's Eve, sending his fans into a tizzy. The director, is aware that he is working with big names and trying out something different, yet, he shows little signs of nervousness.
Aanand L Rai. Image from Facebook
Speaking about casting Khan in the film, he tells Mumbai Mirror that he needed a big star to take the story to audiences all over the world. "Even if you cut two feet away from Khan saab, he’d still stand tall," he says about Khan, who plays a dwarf in the film. Naturally, the film is going to be a VFX-heavy one, in order to make Khan seem as realistic as possible and it is easy for things to go haywire when VFX is in the picture. Although Rai says that the film does play around with a lot of special effects, they've been used more for to support the story and "not just for impact."
The film is also going to star Katrina Kaif and Anushka Sharma, bringing back memories of Yash Raj Films' Jab Tak Hai Jaan. Casting multiple big shots is not characteristic to Rai's style of filmmaking, however, he says that although it might look like he is aiming to be in a whole new league, he is still playing true to his roots, where characters are simple, honest and from not-so-big setups.
Known for producing and directing an array of films which are based on unconventional and often taboo topics, Rai says "he'd lose sleep" if he were to repeat any of the films he has been a part of. According to him, Tanu Weds Manu Returns worked because there was a whole new Kangana, which revived the story and made it fresh. With Zero, too, he wants it change things for him, but doesn't want to say it yet.
