Rohit Shetty's Zameen is a film based on the infamous Kandahar highjack episode, which shook the country some years back. Baba Zaheer (Mukesh Tiwari) is the leader of Al-Tahir. A terrorist group and is the most wanted criminal in the scenario, especially since he is behind the major blasts and attacks happening in the country. Col. Ranvir Ranawat (Ajay Devgan), in a valiant attempt, manages to catch him and puts him behind the bars. On the other hand, the members of the Al-Tahir are now hatching a plot to take Baba Zaheer out of the cell.
The storyline revolves around two toughies — Colonel Ranvir Ranavat (Devgan) and anti-terrorist squad ACP Jai (Bachchan). While Ranavat spearheads the capture of terrorist leader Baba Zaheer (Mukesh Tiwari), Jai tracks arms dealers and simultaneously tries to spend time with his air-hostess love Nandini (Bipasha Basu).
Some years ago, Jai had been asked to resign from the army by Ranawat for committing a mistake. After the two meet again, the air-raising hijacking incident takes place — with Nandini on the ill-fated flight.
Although the first half has a couple of interesting sequences, mainly the interval point, it is the second half that bowls you over completely. The twists and turns in the second half when Abhishek lands up at PoK is good. Even the climax is simply brilliant. The chase sequences involving Abhishek Bachchan and the character Farid are just mind-blowing. Also, special marks to the action director who leaves no stone unturned to make them look hardcore. The action in the film is perhaps among the best in recent times.
Ajay Devgan is brilliant and has added another feather in his cap. Abhishek looks stunning in action. Unfortunately he does not have many moments in the film, he proves that given a good action film, he will make his mark in a big way. Bipasha has nothing much to do, but is good in whatever little she has. Mukesh Tiwari as the terrorist is promising. Mohan Joshi and the rest of the cast lend able support. Rohit Shetty proves himself with a major film, but could have done better with the screenplay department. Nonetheless an impressive debut.
In reality, movies like Zameen, that are hardcore action-masala movies do not rely too much on songs and even if a number or two click then it is a major advantage. OK, so there has been Kaante that had hit numbers despite being an action movie but then you can't always expect wonders to happen. Zameen has a number or two that can pull in the crowds but that's it. You can's imagine everyone alike to be queuing up in front of music stores to get a copy of Zameen !!
In all this, Jai Singh's action and Aseem Bajaj’s cinematography are stylish. But the heroes really stand out. Ajay Devgan is solid as ever. As for Abhishek, he seems to be getting better with each film.
