The Valley of Fear

Ground Zero | Director: Tejas Prabha, Vijay Deoskar | Cast: Emraan Hashmi, Sai Tamhankar, Zoya Hussain, Mukesh Tiwari

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN cinema gives you more nuance than news media? One of the perils of fic­tionalising news events is that the latter can quickly overtake the former. Ground Zero fic­tionalises the struggle of paramilitary forces in Kashmir, in particular through the story of one officer, Narendra Nath Dhar Dubey, but falls foul of reality. Though it deals with the aftermath of the December 13, 2001 attack on Parliament, the events that unfold onscreen may well be happening now. Kashmir belongs to India, but do its people? There is fear in Kashmir, but is there also sadness? Will the youth of Kashmir change if the gun in their hands is replaced by a paintbrush? Without news anchors screeching and politicians’ outrage, Ground Zero covers all the authorities that have a stake in the for­mer state and zeroes in on other conflicts, from pompous intelligence officials to fearful security officers, from other states and other cultures. “Fauji field se suspend ho sakta hai duty se nahi (A soldier can be suspended from the field but not from service),” says Dubey (played with understated elegance by Hashmi). Like last year’s Amaran, the Tamil film which human­ised the conflict between the army and terrorists, Ground Zero takes us into the sacrifice of the families, the fear of the Kashmiris, and the terror that has continued for far too long.

Emraan Hashmifilm reviewGround ZeroMukesh TiwariSai TamhankarTejas PrabhaVijay DeoskarZoya Hussain