At 54, late actress Sridevi was more active than most of her contemporaries. She will be seen for the last time onscreen in Anand L Rai’s Zero that has Shah Rukh Khan in the lead. The film is centred on a dwarf with charming qualities. Apparently, it’s a party scene where Sridevi will be seen playing herself. Rani Mukerji, Alia Bhatt, Karisma Kapoor and Deepika Padukone are also making special appearances in the film. Shah Rukh and Sridevi go back a long way and even worked together in a film, Army. The length of the role doesn’t matter when you get a chance to witness a legend in action, one last time.
Now, Shah Rukh Khan has opened up about Sridevi's appearance in the film and how he feels about it. Speaking to Zoom TV, the Dilwale actor initially clarified that it wouldn’t be a long sequence but “it’s a privilege to have had her in the film”.
SRK revisited the memories when he started his acting career with The Army (1996), in which he shared the screen with Sridevi.
“We wish she was alive and it would’ve been nicer. And now that you have mentioned it, I am just thinking, if we have a trial for the film, she would’ve been the first person, I would’ve called,” he added.
Big pocket filmmakers wanted to cast Sridevi in their films since her return to Bollywood with English Vinglish in 2012. She refused most of these proposals and signed those where she could experiment with her characters. If she decided to play the villain in Vijay-starrer Puli (2015), she also said no to SS Rajamouli’s now larger-than-life Baahubali franchise. She was her own person.
Last year, Sridevi played the central character in director Ravi Udyawar’s Mom. She rubbed shoulders with much younger actors like Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Akshaye Khanna. The film turned out to be a success at the box office.
Zero is al, set to release on December 21.
