Baramulla, the latest Netflix original, is a horror-thriller film directed by Aditya Suhas Jambhale. Starring Manav Kaul as a police officer investigating child disappearances in the town of Baramulla, Kashmir, the story blends supernatural elements with themes of generational trauma, loss, exile, and the socio-political history of the Kashmir Valley, particularly the 1990s exodus of Kashmiri Pandits (Hindus) amid militancy and violence.
The film uses supernatural horror as a metaphor for the "genocide" and displacement of Kashmiri Hindus in the 1990s, linking child abductions to buried communal violence and militancy. Some praise this as a "haunting ode to loss, memory, and exile," arguing it addresses underrepresented narratives of Hindu suffering in Kashmir. Others criticize it as exploitative, turning real-life tragedies into "horror movie gimmicks" without nuance, potentially sensationalizing pain for entertainment.
Netizens are in praise of the Netflix original. "I am in the middle of watching Baramulla on Netflix and there is this one scene that completely broke me. I burst into tears and got goosebumps. As a Kashmiri Pandit I could relate to it so deeply. I don’t think I have felt something like this from a movie scene before," a viewer wrote. "Baramulla is remarkable on many levels. The performances are spot-on, the story compelling, and the decision to use this genre to address something so sensitive is both bold and thoughtful," wrote Dimple.
