"He brings in a certain level of novelty": Director Tejas Deoskar on why he decided to cast Emraan Hashmi in 'Ground Zero'

In a conversation with ANI, he shared that his first choice was Emraan, "When you start writing the script, visualising the script, you start also seeing the actor in it. And the reason why I thought Emraan could be a choice because he brings in a certain level of novelty because he's not done a role in uniform. Nobody has expected him to be a soldier or an officer, so I thought that I can bring in a new perspective from a casting point of view."

The film, set in Kashmir during the early 2000s, follows a brave mission led by BSF officer Narendra Nath Dubey, who played a pivotal role in eliminating terrorist mastermind "Ghazi Baba."

In the film, Emraan Hashmi will portray the role of a BSF commandant, Narendra Nath Dhar Dubey. Sai Tamhankar will portray the role of the officer's wife.

A special screening of Emraan Hashmi's film 'Ground Zero' was hosted for BSF Jawans in Srinagar on Friday.

Sharing his shooting experience in Srinagar, he added, "It was fabulous because it was just like coming to full circle. We shot the film there. We started the story. It's based out of Srinagar, so it was only right to go back at the end and show it to the Srinagar public. So the first ever public screening of this film happened in Srinagar, so I'm very happy about it. Challenges do come along with the shooting proportion, but otherwise the administration was with us and we were extremely at ease to shoot the film in Srinagar, so it was not a problematic scene otherwise."

He also talked about the challenges of dealing with the subject, "When it comes to a real story, of course, we need to have a sense of the fact that there is a person. Who has some image, and we cannot go beyond certain boundaries. So even if you are taking the liberties for creative purposes, it has some sort of restriction, and of course, I want to respect that as well. So, yes, there are a set of challenges, but it's also thrilling because we know that there are real stories and real events that have happened. So, it was exciting."

The film director attended the special screening of the film in the Capital. Apart from Emraan Hashmi and the film's team, the screening was attended by BSF Jawans and eminent politicians.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Ravi Shankar Prasad, who watched the film at the screening, shared his experience, saying, "It is a very good film and very well presents the work that BSF people have done to eliminate terrorism in Kashmir. My greeting to all the filmmakers."

Produced by Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar, and directed by Tejas Deoskar, the film is co-produced by Kassim Jagmagia, Vishal Ramchandani, Sundeep C. Sidhwani, Arhan Bagati, Talisman Films, Abhishek Kumar, and Nishikant Roy. Sai Tamhankar is also a part of the film.

'Ground Zero' is set for a theatrical release on April 25. (ANI)