Director Tejas Prabha Vijay Deoskar, whose latest film Ground Zero released days after the terror attack in Pahalgam last month, recalls the turmoil he felt when he heard the news. “I have seen the Kashmir where [the attack] took place. We had a screening of the film in Srinagar, just three days before this incident. Mujhe dhakka laga,” he says.

Ask if he was worried about how this might affect the film’s performance and Tejas replies, “It wasn’t mentally and emotionally possible for us to even think about our film when we heard the news. The entire team was shaken. If I start thinking about whether this will benefit our film, I’ll be finished as a person.”

Starring Emraan Hashmi, Ground Zero tells the story of Border Security Force officer Narendra Nath Dhar Dubey, who led a 2003 operation to track down Ghazi Baba, the terrorist behind the 2001 Parliament attacks.

Despite its theme, the film opened to mixed reviews and a tepid box-office response, collecting around Rs. 1 crore on opening day. “I do not take criticism as negative reviews. The audience gives unbiased reviews and I’ve only received positive messages from complete strangers,” the director reflects.

He does admit, however, “A lot of people told me ‘Aapki film mein koi masala nahin hai, koi heroism nahin hai’, but I take that as a compliment. Achcha hai na, I’m true to the subject. I wanted to make a realistic movie and not something ‘filmi’.”