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Join UsStar Cast: Emraan Hashmi, Sai Tamhankar, Zoya Hussain, Mukesh Tiwari, Rockey Raina, Rahul Vohra
Director: Tejas Prabha Vijay Deoskar
What’s Good: Straight rendition of the real core story, with minimum dramatizations or masala.
What’s Bad: Zero score of negatives for Ground Zero!
Loo Break: Not at all, as it is crisp, and every scene is important.
Watch or Not?: Yes, one more welcome patriotic drama. In light of the latest Pahalgam tragedy, this assumes greater relevance.
Language: Hindi
Available On: Theatrical release
Runtime: 134 Minutes
User Rating:
Narendra Dube (Emraan Hashmi) is another unsung hero in our patriotic archives. Mercifully still alive (though with a bullet lodged in his spine!), he was the main man who succeeded in eliminating the Jaish-e-Mohammad commander, Ghazi Baba (Rockey Raina), who is said to have masterminded the 2001 Parliament Attack and many other attacks on Indian soil, especially in Kashmir.
Dube and his devoted cronies and colleagues from the Border Security Force (BSF) try all means to home in on the terrorists and eliminate them, while simultaneously trying to convince the Kashmiri youth not to be swayed by the Pakistani forces to fight for the supposed “Independence of Kashmir.” In this, strangely, the opposition comes from Dube’s immediate boss, Commander Sharma (Mukesh Tiwari), and the Intelligence Chief (Rahul Vohra) on grounds of protocol and—need I say it—ego!
Ground Zero Movie Review: Script Analysis
Sanchit Gupta and Priyadarshee Srivastava wrote the story, screenplay, and dialogues, with Chiranjeevi Bajpai providing additional dialogues. The first two were earlier associated with the film’s director in the social drama Chhatriwali, and they spin an engaging narrative here.
Dube (as I shall call him for crispness!) is a man of deep conviction and a daredevil who believes in taking risks so that things do not become “more risky” (as he puts it) for the average citizen. He inspires tremendous respect among his colleagues, who are ready to do anything for him, even endanger their own lives.
Dube knows that motivating youngsters who are otherwise brainwashed into working for terrorists is more important than merely arresting or shooting them. So Hussain (Mir Mehrooz), one such youngster, becomes Dube’s devotee of sorts and even helps him in the mission to nab the local “pistol gang”. This gang is largely made up of such college students who shoot BSF officers in return for good money and the promise of Jannat (heaven) if killed!
As events begin to happen in rapid succession, Dube’s risk-taking tendency spirals. He even blithely lies to his loving wife (Sai Tamhankar) that he is heading to the office to merely “sign some files” when he leaves for a daredevil mission. As a human being, Dube is also scared about his children’s safety and furious about how he has been unable to prevent his colleagues from being shot dead by the “pistol gang”.
But after the Parliament attack and intel that Ghazi Baba is in Srinagar, Dube will leave no stone unturned to get him, despite opposition and ridicule from his superiors.
The script is direct and unvarnished, so I hope the coincidental finding of Ghazi Baba’s location with help from a school photo of Dube’s child is dramatized rather than real. If it is fictional, then it is a regular template. If real, it only shows that fact can be stranger than fiction!
What I also liked about this film was the unhurried treatment of the events. Though there is no strong drama or sudden twist because of that, everything seems a shade “real-er” (to coin a term!) because the emphasis is on narrating Dube’s hurdles and later triumphs and not sensational storytelling. And the emotional voltage is higher because of Dube’s loyal friends and the Hussasin angle rather than his family, who come in only sparingly and sporadically.
Ground Zero Movie Review: Star Performance
For Emraan Hashmi, contrary to popular belief, Ground Zero is not his first tryst with patriotism. In the gritty Shah Rukh Khan web series production, Bard of Blood, he had played a crack espionage agent, summoned out of retirement for a key mission. In that fictional thriller, too, he conflicted with his boss—an interesting coincidence!
But for all that, Emraan does a skilled job portraying his second role as a living person after cricketer Mohammed Azharuddin in Azhar. He is correctly intense yet restrained, and, in the final analysis, his low-key, sensitive portrayal triumphs.
Sai Tamhankar has precious little to do in her third outing with Excel Entertainment after Agni and Dabba Cartel. However, she shines with her flashes of radiant and indulgent smiles alongside her husband and in the confrontation sequence with the media. Rahul Vohra is correctly obnoxious as the Intelligence Chief, and only one word describes Hussain (Mir Mehrooz)— cute! He is adorable indeed as the wannabe terrorist who helps Dube. A word of praise is due for Dube’s colleagues, especially Deepak Parmesh as Binu.
Zoya Hussain impresses as Aadila, but Mukesh Tiwari, surprisingly, hams and overdoes his stern and noisome commander act. Ramavatar, as Prime Minister Vajpayee, has an amusing resemblance and fares decently in his cameo. The rest of the actors are alright.
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Ground Zero Movie Review: Direction, Music
The songs Fateh, So Lene De, and Pehli Dafa work well in the movie, with Irshad Kamil’s words shining in the last song, but it is futile to expect anything memorable in today’s unmusical scenario, where music makers are ‘employed’ for piecemeal songs that are forgotten within hours or days!
Tejas Vijay Prabha Deoskar, who has mainly directed Marathi movies besides the modestly appealing Chhatriwali, keeps a firm control on the proceedings and develops his principal characters well. His sense of scene-taking is skilled, and Kashmir has rarely looked so tempting and, when he chooses, ominous.
Ground Zero Movie Review: The Last Word
The film adds to the list of unknown patriotic heroes being spotlighted: this year, it is the third such attempt after Sky Force and The Diplomat. And let me repeat, if it is in national matters, the more films, the merrier! Jai Hind!
Three and a half stars!
Ground Zero Trailer
Ground Zero released on 25th April, 2025.
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