Just when we are going through gruesome times like these, our minds feel scattered, our empathy goes drained down, and a film like Ground Zero gets you charged up. While you might feel Ground Zero is a mere ‘retelling’ of the past, it offers a visceral, immersive reckoning with the psychological terrain of warfare. It doesn’t scream patriotism, but it bleeds in the moments that lie in between the bullets on the battleground, in the moments between the tremors of a soldier’s breath.
Set against the febrile backdrop of 2001 Kashmir—still smouldering in the aftermath of decades of turmoil—the film traces the perilous journey of BSF officer Narendra Nath Dhar Dubey, essayed with astonishing gravitas by Emraan Hashmi. Here, Hashmi is stripped of his past cinematic persona; the romantic rogue of yore makes way for a deeply haunted man torn between duty and remorse. It is a metamorphosis that deserves not applause but acknowledgement.
If you think the strength of the film is its explosive crescendos, it isn’t. It remains in its restraint. We do not get to see a melodrama here. The director, Tejas Prabha Vijay Deoskar, tunes within the silence of the Soldier and his conscience. The screenplay, though tightly coiled in the first half, dares to dwell in the slower emotional undercurrents of its second act, occasionally risking its pace but never its poise.
Sai Tamhankar as Jaya Dubey is poignant in her brevity. She doesn’t act so much as evoke—grief, strength, uncertainty—all in a few words and a steady glance. Zoya Hussain, as Aadila, the Intelligence Bureau officer, embodies the narrative’s intellectual edge. Hers is not a performance that demands the limelight but one that glows in its assuredness. Lalit Prabhakar and Deepak Parmesh, as Dubey’s comrades, lend flesh and blood to the brotherhood of uniform—stoic, vulnerable, and tragically expendable. Their chemistry with Hashmi anchors the film in a camaraderie that feels earned, not inserted.
The film’s true hero, however, might be Kamaljeet Negi’s cinematography. Kashmir is neither romanticised nor vilified here. Its majestic valleys are rendered with an ominous beauty—pristine yet blood-stained. Each frame feels like a painting unwilling to be admired, demanding instead to be understood.
Where Ground Zero slightly falters is in its attempt to juggle too many thematic threads toward the climax. The narrative’s philosophical aspirations momentarily stretch its canvas thin. But it regains balance just in time to deliver a conclusion that is neither triumphant nor tragic but truthful.
This is a film of men at war, but more so, of men at war with themselves. Ground Zero stands out not because it glorifies valour but because it questions its cost. It is not a war cry; it is a slow-burning elegy.
In the crowded landscape of military dramas, Ground Zero earns its stars not through spectacle but through soul. It is a richly mounted, emotionally intelligent work that reclaims the genre’s forgotten grace.
But all of that, yet my heart echoed of a song by the System Of A Down—Soldier Side, in the end, “Dead man lying on the bottom of the grave, Wondering when savior comes, is he gonna be saved? Maybe you’re a sinner into your alternate life, Maybe you’re a joker, maybe you deserve to die.”.
Hope the war chronicles end soon. And it’s to say, ‘this too shall pass.’ Our hearts go out to the tourists who fell victim to the terror attack in Kashmir.
IWMBuzz rates it 4 stars.
