Director: Kayoze Irani
Cast: Prithviraj Sukumaran, Kajol, Ibrahim Ali Khan, Manu Rishi Chadha, Jameel Khan, Raghubir Yadav, Jitendra Joshi
Streaming on: Jio Hotstar
Genre: Drama | Mystery | Thriller
Rating: ★★½ (2.5/5)
Kayoze Irani’s directorial debut Sarzameen takes a bold swing at telling a personal story set against the high-stakes backdrop of border tensions between India and Pakistan. But like many ambitious first films, it reaches for too much and ends up only halfway there. It wants to be a war drama, a domestic tragedy, a psychological thriller, and a political allegory — but ultimately delivers only glimpses of each.
Major Vijay Menon (Prithviraj Sukumaran) is a decorated soldier whose loyalty to the country eclipses everything else in his life — even his family. When faced with a painful choice between stopping a terrorist threat and saving his kidnapped son, Vijay chooses duty. Years later, in a strange twist of fate, he meets a young man (Ibrahim Ali Khan) during a rescue operation who claims to be the son he lost.
What follows is not a straightforward reunion, but a slow-burn mystery as Vijay begins to suspect something’s off about this “Harman.” Is he really his child or something far more dangerous? As layers peel back, Sarzameen becomes a psychological guessing game woven with themes of grief, guilt, and distrust.
Kajol steals the spotlight. As Meher, a mother caught between a husband consumed by duty and a son who may not be who he claims to be, she brings grounded emotion to a film that often veers into melodrama. Even when the script falters, Kajol finds dignity in stillness and silence, her eyes carry more weight than some of the film’s most dramatic lines.
Prithviraj Sukumaran has a commanding presence but feels miscast linguistically. His emotional beats work better than his dialogue delivery, especially in Hindi-heavy confrontations. His character has potential — a hero who is also a broken father — but the writing doesn’t explore his inner conflict deeply enough.
Ibrahim Ali Khan shows clear improvement from his earlier outing. While he still lacks the gravitas for emotionally intense scenes, there are moments where his vulnerability feels honest — especially in scenes that play on ambiguity. Is he a victim, a pawn, or a ticking time bomb? Unfortunately, the film doesn’t quite answer.
Sarzameen succeeds in presenting a compelling emotional core, centering on a soldier’s fractured relationship with his family. This central theme holds weight and provides some genuinely affecting moments. The film’s twist reveals, particularly in the latter half, are smartly executed and offer brief flashes of intrigue.
Visually, the film is striking — Sudeep Chatterjee’s cinematography captures the haunting beauty of Kashmir while effectively mirroring the emotional isolation within the Menon household. Complementing the visuals is Shashwat Sachdev’s background score, which adds emotional gravitas to key moments, especially during the son’s mysterious reappearance.
However, the film stumbles in its execution. The screenplay struggles with tonal consistency, as it shifts between domestic drama and spy-thriller without a smooth or convincing transition. Several subplots — including a shadowy informant across the border and Kajol’s character’s unclear motivations — feel underdeveloped and end up distracting rather than deepening the narrative.
A significant twist involving Kajol arrives too late and lacks clarity, adding confusion rather than emotional impact. Moreover, while the story hints at broader themes such as radicalization, geopolitics, and generational trauma, it never fully explores them, leaving the film feeling emotionally shallow and thematically scattered.
Sarzameen is a film with noble intentions, a loaded emotional premise, and flashes of directorial promise. But it often chooses melodrama over complexity, leaving its core themes underexplored. It's a story that had the potential to punch you in the gut — but lands as a polite nudge instead.
If you’re a fan of slow-burn family dramas with a nationalistic undertone, and you don’t mind loose ends, Sarzameen might still be worth a one-time watch. But for a film trying to merge the intimacy of a broken family with the scale of a nation’s security, the emotional stakes never quite match the dramatic setup.