Aanand L Rai is one of the directors of Bollywood, who has revamped the portrayal of small towns in Hindi films. The credit of bringing small-town stories with utter charm goes to him. The director, who has earlier helmed Tanu Weds Manu along with its sequel and Raanjhanaa, has again collaborated with his writer Himanshu Sharma to bring a unique story. However, this time, he has a star in his film. Zero, starring Shah Rukh Khan, Anushka Sharma and Katrina Kaif is all set to release on December 21. The film in which SRK plays the role of a vertically challenged person has set the expectations of people soaring.
It is for the first time, Rai has cast big names in his film. When asked, what made him do so, the director said the story is fairytale-like, hence it needed a bigger audience which the cast gave him. Talking to Scroll.in, he said: ''I felt this story deserves a certain kind of making. It has a dreamy, fairytale-like feel. It deserves a bigger audience. The story needed the mounting, which this cast gave me, and the story needed Shah Rukh, Katrina and Anushka. You call it a gamble; I call it casting.''
Zero
Rai loved working with Shah Rukh and calls him ''one of the purest'' actors. The director is also impressed with Shah Rukh's dedication towards his work. ''As an actor, he is one of the purest I have worked with. He is a proud actor who will never ask why he should do it. He will do it. At the most, he will ask you how. He is very dedicated,'' he told.
Zero
When asked about what made him set his story again in a small town, Rai said, ''I believe it is not about Benaras, Kanpur, Haryana or Meerut. It is about people. Maybe I understand people from that space very well. Khan saab is still very Delhi. I always tell him that no matter how much you show Mannat [his bungalow in Bandra], at heart you are middle class. His roots are intact''.
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