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Zero: Did you know Shah Rukh Khan wanted to play Babita, Anushka Sharma hoped to portray Bauaa, and Katrina Kaif was eyeing Aafia?
Aanand L Rai's film Zero starred Katrina Kaif, Shah Rukh Khan, and Anushka Sharma, giving one of the best performances of their careers, but did you know the trio wanted to play each other's roles?
Aanand L Rai’s 2018 film Zero was one of the most ambitious projects of Shah Rukh Khan, Katrina Kaif, and Anushka Sharma’s careers. The trio played some of those characters that no one imagined them in and despite a commercial failure, their performances found a place in the loudest cheers. However, are you aware that the actors initially wanted to play each other’s characters in the movie?
For the unversed, Zero’s script underwent massive changes since its first draft, from its name and character sketches of all the actors onboard. During the film’s promotion, Anushka Sharma shared a video featuring the entire cast and the director speaking about the film while taking an oath that they’d only speak the truth.
It was during this sequence only that Shah Rukh Khan named Katrina’s character Babita Kumari as his favorite while admitting that he wanted that for himself—to be treated like a star with a sea of crowds around him and expensive clothes on his body. Katrina then admitted that she not just hoped to play Afia (Anushka’s character) but also cried in front of Aanand in order to get that role.
Anushka further added that she also wished to play Bauaa (SRK’s character) for the reason how he held conversations with his parents and friends. Later in an interview with Midday, Katrina Kaif shared, “When the narration got over, I said, ‘sir, let me do that.’ He said, ‘no beta, it’s already cast.’ He didn’t say it’s already cast. I think he said that ‘we’ve already kind of thought of someone.’”
You’ll be shocked to know that Katrina went a step ahead, recorded the audition of herself in Aafia’s character, and showed it to Aanand L Rai because she was passionate about playing it. She said, “I showed it to him on the laptop and he watched it and he actually thought about it; he was like, ‘I am really moved that you’ve done this give me a few days.’ So that gave me hope.”
Sadly, Rai had a different vision for the movie and all three actors played characters they didn’t want to and aced it like anything. The filmmaker was a visionary and his casting proved the same in all senses.
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