‘Shah Rukh Khan not even equal to dirt on Kamal Haasan's feet', says Lilliput as he criticises SRK's acting in Zero: ‘Aap Kamal ji ki copy kar rahe ho'

Indian Express

2 days ago

Shah Rukh Khan's attempt at playing a man with dwarfism in Zero back in 2018 was not appreciated by his fans. In fact, the shock of this film's failure hurt SRK so deeply that he took a sabbatical from movies and returned to the cinemas in a lead role only in 2023 with Pathaan, Jawan and Dunki. However, the film's representation of dwarfs continues to bother MM Faruqui, popularly known as Lilliput. In a recent interview, he compared SRK's attempt with Kamal Haasan's Appu Raja and said that it felt Shah Rukh was trying to copy Kamal, when he is 'not even equal to the dirt on his feet.'
Talking to Red FM Podcasts, Lilliput said, 'Someone who is not blind will act like they are blind but for a person who is not a dwarf, how will you act like a dwarf? Because dwarfs are normal, their hand movements are normal, they laugh and think like anyone else, they only look a different way. So how will you act that out? You will make him look smaller technically.'
Criticising Shah Rukh's presentation, Lilliput said that SRK's stardom did not allow him to play a character with dwarfism. 'We know you are good looking and cute so our impression of what you are ends there. We are not looking at a dwarf, we are looking at a hero who has been made to look like a dwarf via visual effects,' he said and asked, 'And what is your script trying to say?'
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He then compared Kamal Haasan's Appu Raja to Zero and said that Kamal was wise enough to include the details of a dwarf's movements into his performance and suggested that Shah Rukh did not do the required homework. 'You look at Appu Raja's intelligence. Kamal Haasan picked out the details of the physicality of a dwarf person. Dwarfs are a little distorted, their fingers are smaller, a little thicker, arms, face and feet are different so when you are not able to leave an impact, then why are you making it? And how could you think that you would leave an impact?' he questioned.
Lilliput went as far as to compare the acting prowess of the two stars and said, 'Kamal ji ki aap copy kar rahe ho. Unke acting ki charno ki dhool bhi nahi ho aap (You are copying Kamal ji. And you are not even equal to the dirt on his feet.)'
Shah Rukh Khan recently won the National Film Award for Best Actor for his work in Atlee's Jawan. He is sharing the award with Vikrant Massey for his work in 12th Fail.