 "Netflix's 'Baramulla' Movie Review: Manav Kaul gives his best in a film which is just not good enough!")
Language: Hindi
Director: Aditya Suhas Jambhale
Cast: Manav Kaul, Bhasha Sumbli, Arista Mehta, Rohaan Singh, Masoom Mumtaz Khan, Ashwini Koul, Mir Sarvar, and Vikas Shukla
Storytelling is an art that needs to be mastered and especially when you are handling a sensitive topic; it needs to be done with care. Aditya Suhas Jambhale’s film stars Manav Kaul and Bhasha Sumbli. The central plot of Netflix’s Baramulla is about a mysterious case of the disappearance of children and encountering supernatural occurrences. When DSP Ridwaan Sayyed (Manav Kaul) gets posted to Baramulla to solve this case, he finds his family getting entangled in this mystery. The house where he is put up in has a dark backstory, too.
The primary thing that will instantly attract you about Netflix’s
_Baramulla_ is its look. Not once have the makers tried to romanticise the place, which we have often seen in several mainstream Bollywood films. The story starts with a young boy who goes missing from a magic show. The magician obviously becomes the first suspect. As days pass by, more children are targeted and go missing. But what I felt is that a movie with a serious theme could have been made better. Shoddy storytelling massacred the film.
Nestled deep within a beautiful valley lies the snow-covered, slow-paced city of Baramulla, where rumours and legends intertwine with reality. It sets off a chain of events that unravel unsettling truths and shake the town to its core. Into this charged atmosphere enters DSP Ridwaan Sayyed, a recently transferred Kashmiri Police officer tasked with investigating a case of missing children.
But little does DSP Ridwaan Sayyed (Manav Kaul) know what he is heading to and that his pursuit for the truth will keep all the more confused and baffled. Ridwaan Sayyed is also seen battling his own personal issues, a past that he is unable to get over. And so, does his family, especially his daughter. His daughter has distanced herself from him for a past case that he was handling.
The spooky town of Baramulla, along with a sensitive case, threatens the peace of the family. The first hour of the film is convincing, but the latter part of it is so loaded with supernatural happenings and excessive drama that it gets boring and repetitive after a certain point. Towards the end, the script too thins out. Just a brilliant looking movie with some fantastic landscapes cannot save a film. The atmosphere that the film had set was brilliant, but the end was the same old rant.
The performances of not just Manav Kaul, but Bhasha Sumbli, along with the young kids, are absolutely terrific. But alas! Had the film been properly executed with fine storytelling the Netflix’s Baramulla would have been an engaging watch. Only if you are in an undemanding mood, the film is watchable, otherwise…
Rating: 2 (out of 5 stars)
WATCH the trailer of Netflix’s ‘Baramulla’ here:
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