Zero is a 2018 Indian Hindi-language comedy drama film written by Himanshu Sharma, directed by Aanand L. Rai and produced by Colour Yellow Productions in collaboration with Red Chillies Entertainment.

The film stars Shah Rukh Khan, and Katrina Kaif, while Anushka Sharma, Abhay Deol, R. Madhavan and Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub in important supporting cast.

Despite having widespread hype prior to release, the film was one of the biggest box-office failures in Khan's career leading him to take a five year hiatus.

After using matrimonial agencies with little luck, he eventually finds his companion in Aafia Yusufzai Bhinder, a NSAR scientist (a fictionalized depiction of NASA) with cerebral palsy.

On their marriage day, Bauua's friend Guddu tells him that he is shortlisted for a dance competition where he had applied earlier, where the winner gets a chance to meet Babita Kumari, a Bollywood actress.

Director Aanand L. Rai conceived the film in 2012 after watching Krrish (2006) and drawing parallels of the titular character with that of American superheroes such as Superman, Batman and Spider-Man.

[31] Khan is the fifth actor of normal stature in Indian cinema to play a little person after Kamal Haasan in Apoorva Sagodharargal (1989),[45] Johnny Lever in Aashiq (2001), Jagathy Sreekumar in Athbhutha Dweepu (2005) and Anupam Kher in Jaan-E-Mann (2006).

While Kaif was the first choice for the first lead, Sharma's role was initially offered to Deepika Padukone and Alia Bhatt who play cameos in the film, they dropped out due to date issues.

[51] The film features guest appearances by Salman Khan, Sridevi, Juhi Chawla, Kajol, Rani Mukerji, Karisma Kapoor, Deepika Padukone and Alia Bhatt who will portray themselves.

Khan noted that he had to be careful about the "little things" in enacting Bauua, such as not making his strides too long, and using a ramp instead of stairs; for many scenes, he would be made to stand in a pit (which would be edited out in post-production), so the other actors would be looking at him from a slightly higher vantage point and hence creating a sense of realism for his short stature.

[68] The character was also shot using Forced Perspective, which according to NDTV, is "a technique that employs optical illusion to make an object appear farther away, closer, larger or smaller than it actually is.

[20] In an interview with The Telegraph, Sharma noted that in the beginning stages of the shoot, shaping the physicality of the character was difficult for her and that she would ask for many more takes than usual because her movements didn't feel correct.

Babita's vulnerability, and her continuous struggle to hide her true feelings from the world, appealed to Kaif and she eventually found the character intriguing.

She noted that choreographer Remo D'Souza directed the video and brought his trademark creativity, including the inclusion of children, into the song's dance sequence.

While on set, wheelchair user Sharma can be seen on an elevated platform while interacting with Shah Rukh Khan's character Bauua, to create the illusion of his short stature.

[83] It was sung by Abhay Jodhpurkar (who made Bollywood debut) and arranged by Ustad K. Shayan-Hussaini (who also played its piano pieces); other instrumentals include the Indian flute by Varad Kathapurkar and the Nylon guitar by Pawan Rasayli.

[88] The title of the film was announced by Khan and Rai on 1 January 2018 in a minute long teaser trailer posted on Twitter due to robust demand from fans.

The video showed Khan in his dwarf avatar singing and dancing to Mohammed Rafi's "Hum Ko Tum Pe Pyar Aaya".

"[44] During the Islamic festival of Eid, a promotional teaser[95] was released on 13 June 2018, featuring Shah Rukh and Salman, the latter in the attire sported by him in the film Tiger Zinda Hai (2017).

[102] On the morning of 2 November, Director Aanand L. Rai released a third poster on his Twitter page, depicting Khan's Bauua Singh standing on a street near Broadway in New York City.

[105] On 10 November, Zero's trailer was screened at the 24th Kolkata International Film Festival in the presence of Khan and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

[109] Also on 21 November, Red Chillies Entertainment tweeted to announce official merchandise for the film – including phone covers, mugs, shirts, and headphone sets – which would be available for purchase on their company website's store page.

[111] On 23 November, the first song of the film was released, titled "Mere Naam Tu";[83] an orchestral ballad picturized on Bauua as he sweepingly proclaims his love for Aafia, it was composed by Ajay–Atul, lyricized by Irshad Kamil and sung by Abhay Jodhpurkar.

"[85] On 14 December, a new dialogue promo featuring Bauua Singh was released, called "Bhabhi Ke Naam Ki Biryani," revealing his relationship with his father and his "quirky sense of humor.

[122] A fifth poster was also released by Red Chillies Entertainment on the same day, depicting Bauua and Aafia in a zero-gravity simulator, holding onto each other's arms, with an enlarged and well-lit moon and sky in the background.

[139] Most praised the film's visual effects and agreed that Kaif gave the best performance of her career, while they were critical about its plot,[140] which was "cut short by the resources at hand", and that the second half in particular was "aimless" and "scattered.

[144] Swetha Ramakrishnan of Firstpost praised the "ambitious" nature of the film and called it "extremely self-aware," particularly in its first half, crediting it for grounding the plot in warmth.

He called the main characters excellent, and praised Khan's performance, with Kaif being "a huge revelation" and acting in ways hitherto unseen.

She says in the second half the "promising premise derails;" while the individual characters are interesting, the "connective tissue between...is so thin that the narrative starts to wobble."

He commended the physical efforts of Sharma's acting and Kaif's vulnerability, yet felt that the film aimed too high without sensitively portraying the struggles of disabled people.