Baramulla: caught between our past, guns, ghosts, and inner conflict
inam ul rehman
Baramulla is a haunting thriller and different from The Kashmir Files. We know Pandits were driven out from Kashmir, but produced and written by Pandits, the movie itself is empathetic to characters. It does not weaponise that deracination. Any Muslim who stands for Pandits in the movie is shot dead. The director weaves the story with supernatural and psychological elements, reminiscent of Ram Gopal Verma’s Raat movie, but does not match its eeriness.
It
is an emotional, socio-political allegorical movie directed by Aditya Suhas
Jambhale. The film uses the allegory of ghosts and families to depict the inner
conflict of Kashmiris struggling with its past.
Set
in 2016, it shows the complexity of Kashmiris where the father fights against
militants, but his own daughter terms him traitor to the Kashmir cause, an MLA
takes oath on the Indian constitution, but his own son is against the same
system. The father and daughter, father and son duo, divided by ideologies,
become metaphors for Kashmir’s generational discord. While fathers are on state
duty, their wards are raised on the romance of resistance. It is a Kashmir torn
between loyalty, identity, and inherited anger. These fissures mirror the
Kashmiri society. The director turns Baramulla town into a symbolic landscape
where faith, fear, loyalty, and betrayal meet at every corner.
The
children, as the film depicts, indoctrinated at the young age happily glide
into this abyss. This is where the film picks up. It unfolds at its own pace,
which may be distracting for non-Kashmiri viewers.
For
Kashmiri Muslims, the filmmakers show, the conflict has become a virulent
abyss. To prevent the recurrence of the 1990s situation, Kashmiri Muslims and
Pandits have to stand up together. As the director portrays, Pandits are just a
call away from help.
The
movie shows some scenes which will bring déjà vu to many Kashmiris. Like a
policeman taking part in stone pelting to catch them. Or some slogans which
were popularised by incarcerated Sarjan Barkati.
Now
coming to the craft of the film. We know whenever professional cinematographers
capture scenes in the Valley it is mostly breath-taking and it has now become a
visual cliché to see Kashmir in snowy mountains, terrains, drone shots of
shikaras and meadows. Kashmir has to be visually shot from different frames and
colour grades to break this monotony.
Its
producer Aditya Dhar, a Kashmiri native, who earlier directed the blockbuster, Uri-The
Surgical Strike, has come up with a measured movie placing emphasis on
empathy rather than on division.
Manav
Kaul’s acting as a torn father between his duty to the state and responsibility
toward his daughter is convincing. But at some scenes his eyes betray the
emotions needed to uplift scenes. When he first witnesses supernatural forces,
his eyes do not match the situation. Bhasha Sumbli as the doting and tormented
mother has her moments. Neelofar Hamid’s performance as the principal of the
school whose children disappear is up to the mark. Shahid Latif’s facial
expression as the militant recruiter seems hammed. Child actors have performed
commendably.
The lack of memorable music and dialogues will pin down this film. These two elements are essential for recall value of any film in India.
Its
denouement is so emotional that it will bring tears to the family audiences.
This movie is not about who suffered more, who lost more, who survived, but how
everyone lost something essential in the conflict. Forgiveness is the heart of
this film. It proposes reconciliation, empathy, dialogue and emotional
catharsis instead of accusation and division.
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