Ground Zero movie review: Emraan Hashmi’s Kashmir drama strikes a much-needed balance in these fraught times

Delhi-based intelligence officers, played here by Rahul Vora and Zoya Hussain, are not too enthusiastic by Dubey’s taking charge and contradicting their findings. Neither is his own senior (Mukesh Tiwari). But Dubey sticks to his guns, trusting his loyal colleagues to have his back, as well as his own gut instincts, and follows through to a successful end.

No spoilers here, as these operations are documented in detail. The film uses some of these details to build a complex picture of a valley in turmoil, where the locals can be both complicit and innocent, depending upon their situation. Or let’s say, as complex as a mainstream Hindi film can be. It shows locals pelting stones; it also gives us poverty stricken homes where desperate young boys like Hussain (Mehroos) become easy marks for their handlers from across the border. ‘Yeh jagah hamari hai, par kya yahaan ke log hamaare hain,’ asks Dubey; his wounded colleague’s (Deepak Paramesh) response is ‘yes’ to both.

It’s tempting but not a good idea to extrapolate from films. But Ground Zero, which takes time to build an atmosphere of tension — stepping out to a market, even with your armed mates around you, can be your last day alive — is perhaps the much-needed kind of balance a film can achieve in these fraught times.

The film becomes lax in some parts, especially when the Delhi gang arrives to tell the local forces how to do their jobs. Zoya Hassan pitches it high as an intelligence officer who is willing to lend Dubey her ear; both Vora and Tiwari swing between being shouty and belligerent. Sai Tamhankar is effective as Dubey’s wife, getting her own speech in, in defence of her doughty spouse, even as we see how that insecurity creeps into their domestic sphere.

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Hashmi does a good job of being Dubey, trying to tone down the dialoguing and making it sound conversational. But tighter would have been better.

Ground Zero movie cast: Emran Hashmi, Sai Tamhankar, Mukesh Tiwari, Zoya Hussain, Mir Mohammad Mehroos, Deepak Paramesh, Rahul Vora
Ground Zero movie director: Tejas Prabha Vijay Deoskar
Ground Zero movie rating: 2.5 stars