Emraan Hashmi's Ground Zero hit cinemas on April 25. The film tells the story of BSF officer Narendra Nath Dhar Dubey, who led the 2003 operation that resulted in the killing of the dreaded terrorist Rana Tahir Nadeem, also known as Ghazi Baba.
To discuss the film and the historic Ground Zero operation, Emraan Hashmi, Sai Tamhankar, director Tejas Prabha Vijay Deoskar, and the real-life hero Narendra Nath Dhar Dubey sat down for an interview with NDTV.
During the conversation, NN Dubey, a proud recipient of the Kirti Chakra, was asked about the moving story of constable Balbir Singh — the braveheart who took bullets to save his life during the operation.
To this, NN Dubey said, “Balbir was very young. At that time, he had a child of one and a half years. Just two days back, that young man (Balbir Singh's son had called me because he had seen the trailer somewhere).”
He further shared, “So he (Balbir Singh) had just returned from leave, a night before. In routine, he was not part of my team for that purpose…I was somehow known to be grabbing the successes and taking on operations, doing extra initiative. A lot of operations were being executed under my command personally. So, jawans also had a competition that I should be part of the team.”
NN Dubey also revealed how Balbir Singh approached the Battalion Havildar Major, requesting to be included in the operation. Balbir was eventually assigned to duty alongside NN Dubey.
Speaking about the historic day, NN Dubey recalled, “And the next morning, once we set out for the operation, I had forgotten my jacket. Then my wife handed over that jacket to Balbir. That is the last memory she has got.”
Reflecting on Balbir Singh's sacrifice, he said, “After that, he (Balbir Sinfgh) did not return. So, he was very young and he had got a very long life to live as a border man, which was curtailed by just a friction of a second. And that is one regret we will definitely carry. But he saved me and he took the first brunt in the line of duty, which is, I mean, that is how the philosophy of the entire BSF goes on.”
Coming back to the film, Ground Zero also features Zoya Hussain, Mukesh Tiwari, Deepak Parmesh, Lalit Prabhakar and Rockey Raina in pivotal roles. The project has been bankrolled by Excel Entertainment.