Plot
In Baramulla, Kashmir, a young boy, Shoaib, mysteriously disappears during a magician’s performance, prompting DSP Ridwaan Sayyed to take charge of the investigation. He arrives with his wife Gulnar and their children, Noorie with whom Ridwaan has a strained relationship and Ayaan, and the family moves into an old villa cared for by a mute attendant, Iqbal.
A year ago in Reasi, Jammu, Noorie and some her schoolmates were taken hostage by terroristss in her school. While rescuing the children Ridwaan accidentally shot a classmate of Noorie right in front of her while shooting at a terrorist which emotionally scarred her against her father.
While Ridwaan suspects the magician is innocent, a series of strange events unsettle the family: Ayaan discovers a box of sea shells and encounters a mysterious childlike presence, Noorie senses a dog in the house despite her severe allergy and notices Iqbal taking a plate of food to the attic, and Gulnar notices unexplained disturbances in the villa. Moreover Ridwaan’s arrival is greeted with the hostility of the locals who write the word ‘Kafir’ on the wall of his villa deeply upsetting the family, specially Noorie.
Another local boy soon vanishes under similar circumstances. Similar disappearances had happened before but went unpublicized. As hostility from local townspeople grows, Ridwaan investigates Shoaib’s former school and meets the principal, Zainab. Noorie, struggling to adjust, befriends a local boy named Khalid. After various incidents, Noorie herself disappears under supernatural circumstances.
Ridwaan traces Khalid after learning of Khalid's involvement with Noorie and finds out about him preaching religious extremism to local children, as well as that Khalid had convinced Noorie to join the militants, prior to her disappearance. Ridwaan and his team capture Khalid and from him learns of an underground operational network funded by the ISI that recruits and brain-washes local children for militant training in Pakistan. The group’s unseen leader, “Bhaijaan,” and area commander Juneid oversee the operation. However, Khalid reveals that before the children could be transported, they were abducted by unknown forces, a fact the militants blamed on the police.
Meanwhile, Gulnar discovers signs that the villa once belonged to a Kashmiri Pandit family. Guided by a female apparition wearing dejhoor, she is shown a hidden room filled with Shaivite symbols and eventually a spectral dimension where the missing children are being protected "from the poison which has been filled in their brain and heart".
Gulnaar confronts Ridwaan about her findings but Ridwaan remains skeptical and unconvinced due to which Gulnaar informs him of the next kid to be abducted by the entities for protection, Yassir, Juneid’s nephew, which she learned in the spectral dimension.
Ridwaan goes to stop Yassir being exported to Pakistan and shoots the exporter. Yassir picks up the exporter’s rifle to shoot Ridwaan and Ridwaan tries convincing him to surrender. But then the shadowy entities arrive and abduct Yassir right in front of Ridwaan, finally convincing him of the supernatural involvement.
At night, Ridwaan arrives at the villa and attends the ritual of offering food with Gulnaar and Iqbal in the attic. During this, through Ayaan, who is briefly possessed by a girl named Eela Sapru, the family learns that the villa’s former occupants, the Saprus, were massacred by militants decades earlier after being betrayed. The spirits of the murdered family, including their dog, now intervene to save children from radicalisation. During this Zainab arrives in the villa with some police officers regarding her receiving a death threat note.
Suddenly Juneid and his militants attack the villa, triggering a confrontation during which Ridwaan and Gulnar witness the Sapru family’s final moments. They see that previous occupants of the villa, the family of Kashmiri Pundits consisting of Dr. Kamlanand Sapru, his wife Mansi Sapru, their daughter Eela Sapru and their caretaker, then young Iqbal, they were all at home. Dr. Kamlanand Sapru was anxious for his elder son Sharad Sapru who had not arrived home. The family was preparing to leave to escape the brutal militant attack of that time but since Sharad had not arrived they were waiting. Iqbal was trying to convince them to leave. But suddenly a group of militants arrived. Iqbal tries to stop them but the militants cut off his tongue as a punishment for helping the ‘Kafirs’. They kill Dr. Kamlanand and began searching for his family who were hiding in the house. During this, they kill the family’s pet dog. Mansi and Eela managed to hide but a local Muslim girl who was Eela’s friend betrayed them by yelling and informing the militants of their location. The militants brutally killed Mansi in their bedroom and killed Eela in the altar room.
In the current time, in the ensuing fight, Iqbal is killed, Gulnar becomes possessed by Mansi Sapru, and the vengeful spirits aid in repelling the militants. Juneid tries to escape by holding Zainab as a hostage but a possessed Gulnaar shoots Zainab and Ridwaan kills Juneid, then discovers that “Bhaijaan” is Zainab, who had also been the girl who betrayed the Sapru family in the past.
The missing children, including Noorie, are returned. The Sayyed family reconciles, and before leaving the villa, Gulnar offers food to the Sapru spirits as a sign of respect. A final dedication honours the Kashmiri Pandit community. Six months later, the Sayyeds visit Dr. Sharad Sapru, the Sapru family’s sole surviving heir, and Ayaan returns Eela’s seashell box to him.
Reception
Radhika Sharma of NDTV gave it 2.5 stars out of 5 and said that "Sad, cold and haunted. One sees Kashmir in a very different light in Baramulla." [10] Mayur Sanap of Rediff.com awarded 3 stars out of 5 and said that "The supernatural-mystery stuff is well balanced with Baramulla's more grounded, socially realistic elements, making it one of the most unique and creatively well-realized Hindi films." [11] Rahul Desai of The Hollywood Reporter India writes in his review that "Aditya Suhas Jambhale’s film infuses partisan politics with supernatural horror — and the result is complicated." [12]
Anuj Kumar of The Hindu observed that "Director Aditya Suhas Jambhale gets the mood, the atmospherics, and the suspense right, but when the fog subsides, the bombast of the ‘us vs them’ narrative becomes discernible." [13] Vineeta Kumar of India Today rated it 3.5/5 stars and said that "Manav Kaul delivers one of his most haunting performances yet in 'Baramulla', a Netflix film that finds horror not in ghosts but in grief, memory, and the pain of exile. A chilling reflection on loss and belonging in the Kashmir Valley." [14] Lachmi Deb Roy of Firstpost rated it 2/5 stars and said that "Netflix’s ‘Baramulla’ is a brilliant topic that should have been told in a better and convincing way." [15]
Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express also gave it 2 stars out of 5 and said that "The film unravels in the way it tries to mix its allegorical elements with inconsistent plot-points which include terrorists-from-sarhad-paar involved with ‘farming’ innocents: too much obviousness takes away from the delicacy of the rest of it." [16] Nandini Ramnath of Scroll.in observed that "The good-looking movie extracts as much eeriness as possible from the snow-covered landscape and traditional wooden houses. After dithering about for far too long, Baramulla finally snaps into shape in the extended climax, pulling off the mask of horror to reveal … bared teeth." [17] Bollywood Hungama gave it 3.5 stars out of 5 and said that "On the whole, 'Baramulla' is a rare, one-of-its-kind film that fuses supernatural elements with the socio-political reality of Kashmir in a deeply impactful way." [18]
