Baramulla on Netflix is not your usual thriller that keeps you glued. It is different. It is hauntingly different. You understand life better as it draws close. What we see is a stark contrast of light and darkness and at times, what we see as the pristine white is not always pure and could have layers of darkness that are yet to be uncovered. Kashmir’s snow-clad backdrop plays a similar contrast here. The serenity conceals dark and mystery. The play of past and present, all become a jumble in this Aditya Suhas Jambhale directorial.
Manav Kaul stretches an interpretation that one can’t erase from the eyes. He picks on the emotional pebbles that his character builds upon. He goes paranoid, and that’s where we get to coalesce our conscience with him.
Simultaneously, we get Bhasha Sumbli who serves as his wife in the movie. We find her in her stillness. In her composure. But we also see her moving around devotion and scare. Followed by other spectacular performances by the supporting cast, the film gives you the hook of it.
We loved the treatment of the tulips here. White tulips. Children vanish after touching those white tulips. Those flowers give you infinite ways to decipher its symbolism and metaphors.
We see extremism. We see our the youth’s vulnerability gets manipulated by the ill minds of Khalid and Juneid, so that they can recruit them into their militant movement.
Metaphors remain the magic of this film. Viewers have to be maniacs in order to decipher them. Kashmir gets a lot of unfolding. The land that holds too much of the past, but squelched. The ending teaches you emancipation. Emancipation in empathy, maybe?
IWMBuzz rates it 3.5 stars
