For her birthday (/to take advantage of Kat being trending news today), Shahrukh posted her first look from Zero and a little introductory statement on his twitter. So, let’s obsess over it! The way we do.
First, in the continuing saga of “Shahrukh is trying a new PR tactic”, this is a very nice and polished message he has put out about Kat, but the key is “polished”. Different from his sweet message to Anil at 2am when he was too tired to even tag Anil correctly, coming home from Sonam’s wedding.
This one, this was clearly crafted in advance, surely with Shahrukh’s input but still crafted, and timed just right. So we can analyze every bit of it as part of the Zero promotions.
And here are the two images, first the card:
And then the image:
So, they are positioning Katrina through the message and the image as being something “different” in this film, something we haven’t seen before. She is known as beautiful and happy and so on, so they are selling ugly and unhappy. Well, not “ugly”, not as an insult like that, but someone who is a little different than the beautiful package that is selling her.
It’s good promotion for the audience that might be feeling a bit of a Katrina overdose, this is a different kind of Katrina part, she is really stretching herself as an actress. Heck, it worked on me! I’ve seen moments of goodness in her performances, I want to see what happens when she is given a tough role, and styled down, and has an intense serious director like Aanand L. Rai to work with.
And then there’s the actual image. There are cameras in the foreground, which imply what the rumors promised, she will be playing a movie star or some kind of celebrity. And she has this crowd pushing behind her and looks unhappy to see the cameras. I’m going to guess it is an image of her in character dealing with crowds and cameras at an airport or similar, not an image of her in character on a film set. So the “real” Katrina-the-character, looking bleak and unhappy.
We already know Shahrukh’s character is supposed to be her fan, and we have all those interviews about the littlest person making a difference and following being good luck and so on. I am going to take a leap and suggest that Katrina-the-character is a miserable troubled actress, and Shahrukh’s cheerful character shows up in her life and helps her.
That feels kind of Aanand L. Rai-y, dealing with celebrity and movie stars as real people who sometimes are difficult and angry and unhappy. Another Aanand quote about the film is:
“The story of the film is celebrating a perfect love story of two imperfect people. Though the protagonist of the film is a dwarf but more than the physical disability of an individual, the story talks about the space of emotional incompleteness of our life.”
So, based on these images, it is possible that Shahrukh’s character is physically incomplete, but Kat’s is emotionally incomplete and he completes her.
Or not, could be something totally different, what do you think?
dontcallitbollywood 
The photo of Kat is whatevs but the idea of Shahrukh playing a manic pixie dream dwarf who enters her life and makes her happy makes me cringe. It’s just playing into a bad stereotype about people who are disabled. I’d love to be proven wrong about this film but most of what I’ve seen is a hard no for me.
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I am still cautiously optimistic, just because Aanand L Rai has shown himself to be very good at human emotions and real flawed characters. But you are lucky, you get to wait for me to watch it opening night and report back to you! So no need to take a risk, I will be your taste tester.
On Mon, Jul 16, 2018 at 3:21 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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The concept of this movie is so bizarre, I can’t get my head around any of the related stuff. I’m not sure if I should boycott it, laugh at it, or be respectful of it.
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Hopefully a full length trailer will give us a better idea of what it is going to be like. But right now, I think we are all in the same boat.
On Mon, Jul 16, 2018 at 4:26 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Katrina and Aishwarya – I can NEVER make out what they’re trying to communicate in posters. As opposed to say the poster for Ittefaq where Akshay’s body language had so much clarity.
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Katrina sometimes feels like she drops into a “model” face in pictures. As in “I am not going to distract from the clothes/product I am selling by having an expression”.
On Mon, Jul 16, 2018 at 9:54 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Can you elaborate … what are these moments and flashes of brilliance you’ve seen in kat’s performances? Which movies and which scenes?
I thought she was good in Sarkar, but she was dubbed in it, so it could have been the dubbing artist that was good, rather than kat being good.
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Kat was good in Rajneeti & mouthed the chaste Hindi on her own.
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In Ek Tha Tiger, her moments with Salman, I really bought their romance. And when they have their final confrontation before the interval, I bought her inner conflict there.
In Baar Baar Dekho, she was very natural onscreen for most of it, and gave a better performance than Sid (I know, low bar, but still). Especially in the early wedding day sequences. She was perfect in Fitoor, in the perfect role for her, not her fault that the movie was such a disaster in every other way. She nailed the “dramatic realization” moment towards the end.
I think with the right director, in the right role, she can give a good performance. But so far those performances have been in lighter parts. I’ll be curious to see if this is another right director right role moment, only in a more dramatic role.
On Tue, Jul 17, 2018 at 12:19 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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She’s good as an action hero. She doesn’t make me cringe. She’s not sexing it up like Jaqueline Fernandes. Kat is completely credible kicking massive amounts of ass and for someone who is mainly known as the hot chick I’ll give her props for that.
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She also works really hard at her dances. We were talking ages ago about Tiger Shroff and what there is to like about him. And Asmita (I think) pointed out that as a son of a star, he didn’t really have to work, but he chose to be known for dancing and stunts, two things that you actually have to work at and know what you are doing, instead of just sliding by on looks and connections. Similarly with Kat, I can respect her work ethic, choosing to really seriously improve as a dancer and with stunts, when she could have chosen to be just “the pretty one”.
On Tue, Jul 17, 2018 at 4:04 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I think ShahRukh’s birthday message goes beyond the promotion of Zero, it values Katrina’s person as a hard-working actor and a lovable human being.
Do you remember your take about the masks people/stars wear? What they represent in the public eye? If Zero is about incompletenesses/’shortcomings’ it will deal with masks and the judgemental behaviour of the ‘public eye’.
ShahRukh obviously endorses a character who gives a visibility to the word “shortcoming” … in the public mind, little people are since very looooong associated with a certain kind of professional choice: entertainment (and we already know that there will be a connection between ShahRukh’s character and the entertainment industry).
His birthday message tells me that Katrina’s character (similar to her real life) is seen as a ‘beauty queen’ but that her beauty is a kind of impediment and – most probably – there is a lack of connection between her outer and inner beauty. I can relate to Aanand’s wish to get Katrina for this movie because her persona may have been the trigger for the story he wants to tell. (Btw, I belong to those who found Katrina perfect for the role of Meera in JabTakHaiJaan.)
I think, Anushka will endorse an interesting character, too…in a seeming ‘contrast’ to Katrina’s.
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Good point about why Katrina was cast, I bet you are right. It didn’t have to be her of course, but if they wanted someone who would cause a first thought of “beautiful” and not much else, they had a limited list of actresses, and Katrina is probably one of the best, most experienced and already worked with Shahrukh once.
On Tue, Jul 17, 2018 at 12:49 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Arjun Kapoor just posted a picture of him and Katrina and said that they really need to do that film together…and now that’s all I want in this world (besides a Trump impeachment that is). They kind of look great together and I would totally watch a MBKD-style rom-com with them. Also, wouldn’t that be cool if they are endgame in real life, too?
I’m very nervous about Zero as well, but there’s a very slim chance Rai can pull it off. I have always been ambivalent about Katrina…I really do want her to keep giving me reasons to like her even more.
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Were you the one who suggested Arjun date Katrina so that he can pull off the hat trick? Salman’s sister, sister-in-law, and girlfriend? Anyway, I’ve been thinking about that and it is another reason I kind of want them to happen! Salman has mentored both of them so it would kind of keep it in the family, but in a more age appropriate way than Salman-Kat or Arjun-Malika.
On Tue, Jul 17, 2018 at 7:20 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Ew why are they still hiring/promoting an actress who can’t even act has all talented actresess disapeared, literally she’d be nothing without salman in this industry, shes not even attractive anymore so stoned faced and so much botox makes her look 50 but ofcourse since shes white everything else doesnt matter
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She is also by all accounts very pleasant and professional onset, directors and stars who’ve worked with her in the past seem eager to work with her again. So there’s that too, she doesn’t make any waves at work.
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oh really im pretty sure alot of girls who struggle and are actually TALENTED would be easy to work with too but unforunately will never get the chance because of people like Kat and Nepotism smh
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Probably true.
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IMO, I agree with the idea that this movie looks weirdly bizarre. Looks more like a special effects vehicle for promoting Red ChilliesVFX than a story. I was surprised that a Birthday greeting would be so commercial. For me, it trivializes the special occasion of one’s birthday. SRK should have done two tweets, one for her birthday and this one. Also, I agree with TICKET “I can’t get my head around any of the related stuff. I’m not sure if I should boycott it, laugh at it, or be respectful of it.”
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He kind of did two tweets, only the first one was really just a teaser for this one, something about how wonderful it is that it is her birthday and there is a surprise coming.
I am going to assume that in “real life” he also sent her a nice card or called her up and gave her birthday wishes as a friend and co-worker, he just isn’t putting that stuff on twitter any more.
On Thu, Jul 19, 2018 at 8:17 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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