Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
On a snow-cold day in Kashmir’s Baramulla, a magician promises to make a child vanish before a bored crowd. A politician’s son volunteers to enter his wooden box and disappears for real, leading to the poor magician’s arrest for kidnapping, but the police find no answers about the boy’s whereabouts.
Created by Aditya Suhas Jambhale and Aditya Dhar, the 2025 film ‘Baramulla’ stars Manav Kaul (Tribhuvan Mishra CA Topper, The Fame Game) as DSP Ridwaan Sayyed, who starts to investigate the case, only to realize more children are going missing in the region, and the mystery may not be as simple as it seems. Meanwhile, his wife Gulnaar Sayyed (Bhasha Sumbli) and their children begin experiencing supernatural occurrences in their new home, which may or may not have something to do with the missing cases.
A parallel sub-plot of ‘Baramulla’ follows a young man called Khalid (Ashwini Koul) befriending children and indoctrinating them into joining militancy. So was the child kidnapped by militants, or the magician, or something else entirely? Well, there’s significant mystery through the runtime over the missing children’s fate, which reminded me a little of the horror film ‘Weapons’, but except for the missing children, the two works are a world apart.
Manav Kaul’s Ridwaan Sayyed is portrayed as a hardworking, honest officer still carrying the PTSD of an old anti-terror operation, the details of which remain deliberately vague until the final half hour. Despite his professional competence, Ridwaan struggles at home, especially with his teenage daughter Noorie (Arista Mehta), who is dealing with the trauma of surviving a violent hostage situation. His refusal to confront her emotional turmoil becomes a key fault line in the narrative, subtly showing how parental inaction can push vulnerable children toward dangerous influences and manipulative adults.
Children become the symbolic battleground in ‘Baramulla’, either steered toward healing through timely adult intervention, or left to be weaponised by those with darker agendas. The Sayyed home itself embodies this conflict, haunted by spirits that are both vengeful and protective, delivering blood-soaked justice in the final act while hinting that the cycle can still be broken.
All the child actors are fantastic in the film, including actor Rohaan Singh who plays Manav’s younger son Ayaan. The little boy discovers a concealed box in his new home, leading him to befriending a creepy new friend, keeping viewers worried about the child’s fate.
The sprawling house framed by a bleak winter delivers some eerie atmosphere, but no real standout scares. The ghosts’ origins come off a bit contrived too. I went into ‘Baramulla’ expecting solid horror, but the story morphs into a political-social commentary that never quite provides the chills genre fans might anticipate.
A striking visual motif throughout the film is that of a blooming tulip, an unusual sight amid the snow, symbolizing that something in the region’s natural order has gone awry. Yet, the flower blooming out of season also seems to signify hope and life even where you least expect it.
In its two-hour runtime, ‘Baramulla’ attempts to thread together several themes, ultimately suggesting a dual message: that the region’s violence and distrust stem from long-standing disharmony, yet there remains hope for peace if future generations are guided with compassion rather than fear.
The film offers an intriguing blend of genres set against the haunting beauty of Kashmir, weaving together themes of militancy, violence, religion, and the supernatural. I’d give the creators brownie points for mashing themes that aren’t generally seen together.
Rating: 7 on 10. Watch ‘Baramulla’ on Netflix.
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Atlasst. You never disappoint. An actual review with zero preconceived notions and actual criticism. Thank you.