Tulip, trauma, and terror. These three Ts pretty much sum up Netflix's Baramulla. Trauma is the real horror that people should be scared of and not ghosts is what this Haunting of the Hill House-esque film that is set in Kashmir.
Co-written by Aditya Dhar and Aditya Suhas Jambhale, and directed by Jambhale, the film addresses the militancy concerns of the Valley while attempting to free the Kashmiri Pandit community from the ghosts of their haunted past in the Valley.
At 1-hour-52-minutes, Baramulla walks the tightrope between what is real, what is psychological, and what is supernatural. As a result, it often gets a tad bit convoluted, especially when the viewer is bombarded with a lot of information towards the climax which feels hurried.
DSP Ridwan Shafi Sayyed (Manav Kaul) is transferred from Reasi to Baramulla to investigate the mysterious case of six missing school boys in the snow-clad Valley. He believes the militants are grooming the children with anti-India propaganda and abducting them to send them to terrorist training camps to the other side of the border. The incidents of stone pelting have also multiplied in the city.
Ridwan, who also suffers from PTSD, hasn't come to Baramulla alone. His wife Gulnaar and their teenager daughter Noorie, and playful son Ayaan have moved to the city that doesn't feel very warm and welcoming.
This family of four is as dysfunctional as any other family. They bicker over dinner, rooms, and being clingy. The wife, over the years, has realised that it will always be duty first for her husband, and has found a way to express herself through her poetry blog.
The father and daughter at are the loggerheads, and no, Noorie's puberty is not the only reason why they don't see eye to eye. Ayan is that lonely child of the house who is concerned about everyone in the house but is looking for a friend.
And, yes, the new house where the Sayyeds have been put up has been renovated superficially. They never got the landline started again as it's now an antique. The doors in this house creak, there are trapdoors hiding belongings of past residents under the wooden flooring. Along with all the physical, tangible aspects, there are many intangible, supernatural elements to the house that reveal their faces (shadows) slowly as the story progresses.
The white tulip acts as a MacGuffin in Baramulla. One associates tulips or tulip fields in Bollywood with love songs starring Amitabh Bachchan and Rekha in Yash Chopra's Silsila or Rishi Kapoor and Padmini Kolhapure in Raj Kapoor's Prem Rog.
In Baramulla, however, the sight of the white tulip induces dread and darkness. What happens when the sun is not shining in the Kashmir Valley? How does Kashmir look when clad with snow and no colours? Sad, cold and haunted, one sees Kashmir in a very different light in Baramulla.
The film is not without its shortcomings, but Baramulla -- also produced by Aditya Dhar -- is a sensitive telling of the story of families, regardless if they are Kashmiri Pandits or Kashmiri Muslims, and dead or alive.
Also Read | Baramulla Trailer: Manav Kaul Leads A Haunting Mystery Set In The Heart Of Kashmir
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Manav Kaul, Bhasha Sumbli, Arista Mehta, Rohaan Singh.
