Aanand L Rai On Shah Rukh Khan-Starrer Zero's Failure: It Got A Crash Landing, But I Am Proud Of The Film

As director Aanand L Rai gears up for his upcoming directorial Atrangi Re, he looks back at the failure of his last directorial Zero, which completed three years yesterday (December 21, 2021), and featured Shah Rukh Khan, Anushka Sharma and Katrina Kaif in the lead roles. In his recent tete-a-tete with a leading daily, when Rai was asked what went wrong with Zero, he said that even though the film didn't work among audience, he is proud of the film.

"It's simple. I knew that Zero will take off very well. Par uski landing gadbad ho gayi. Main land nahin kara paya. (The landing went wrong. I couldn't land it.) It got a crash landing. But I'm proud of the film. I learned a lot from the film," said Rai, while speaking to Times Of India.

In the same interview, when Aanand was asked what changes he has witnessed in himself as a filmmaker in the last one decade, he said that with the release of every film, his fear got reduced.

He said, "Main chaalis se pachaas saal ka ho gaya. Mera darr kam hota chala gaya with every film. (I went from 40 to 50. The fear reduced with every film.) I started playing my shots with full throttle. Mera mushkil kahaniyon ka darr khatam ho gaya. (I overcame my fear of difficult stories.) I wanted to go and explore the most challenging spaces. 'Tanu Weds Manu' wasn't safe. 'Raanjhanaa' wasn't safe. The layered double roles in 'Tanu Weds Manu Returns' wasn't safe. Getting Shah Rukh Sir to play a dwarf wasn't safe either."

Rai further praised Shah Rukh and said, "More than me, SRK is gutsy. He is always seeking challenges. That was a deadly combo. I was putting up the challenges and he was there to accept them."