Saagar Kote
Netflix’s ‘Baramulla’ delves into a story of missing children, profound tragedies, and concealed secrets. Set in the stark, cold, snowy valleys of Baramulla in Kashmir, the narrative centers on DSP Ridwaan Sayyed, a police officer tasked with investigating the sudden and baffling disappearances of children across the valley. As the kids vanish without a trace and with no ransom calls or viable clues, fear and panic grip the community, which desperately seeks answers. The police are confronted with deep-rooted mysteries that challenge their efforts. As Ridwaan pursues the investigation, he uncovers disturbing truths.
The stakes escalate for the cop when unexpected supernatural events begin to endanger his own family. The film navigates ideas of justice, liberty, propaganda, and patriotism, while also featuring adrenaline-fueled sequences. Towards the end of the horror-thriller film, DSP Ridwaan and his family face an unprecedented challenge that could be the difference between life and death. As dangers converge on the family, they may have to look beyond the material realm for answers. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Baramulla Plot Synopsis
In Kashmir’s Baramulla in 2016, a boy named Shoaib Ansari is reported missing, and DSP Ridwaan Sayyed is transferred there to handle the case. The DSP and his family shift to an old house. Shoaib is revealed to have been kidnapped during a magician’s show the previous night, and only a tuft of his hair is found. Ayaan, the DSP’s son, finds mysterious seashells in the house and hears inexplicable noises from the hollow wooden roof. Noorie, the DSP’s daughter, notices strange behavior from the housekeeper Iqbal, who takes food to a seemingly empty room. Two local men, Khalid and Juneid, get an anonymous video call, where a man asks them to be ready for the next harvest and fight for freedom. A local boy named Faisal sees a blooming white flower. Noorie gets a friend request from Khalid Dar, one of the men from the earlier video call.
Ayaan hears a terrifying humming noise from an isolated section of the house, where he sees a boy-like figure with shiny eyes playing with the seashells. During fishing, the boy Faisal hears an inexplicable voice calling out his name. He rows towards the voice and goes missing, with only a tuft of his hair left behind, just like Shoaib. A mysterious man named “Bhaijaan” communicates with Khalid and Juneid again and says that their target has to be achieved within seven days. Bhaijaan seems to be funded by elements from across the international border in Pakistan. Gulnaar, Ridwaan’s wife, wonders if something is wrong with the house. A USB drive retrieved by the cops hints at the involvement of Bhaijaan, who repeats codes in the audio. Noorie is locked in the house as a smoke-like entity grabs hold of her, leaving only a tuft of her hair behind. Iqbal, the mute housekeeper, reveals that he saw Noorie with an unknown boy in the morning.
The police sketch reveals that the boy seen with Noorie is Khalid, who has seemingly indoctrinated Noorie. Gulnaar sees a smoke-like entity in the house and goes to the isolated room to follow a ringing sound, and breaks through the wooden wall. Inside, she sees old portraits and idols of Hindu gods. Gulnaar concludes that Kashmiri Pandits used to stay in the house. Gulnaar suggests that there may be a connection between the smoke entity, the Hindu idols, and the disappearance of Noorie. The food Iqbal keeps in the house magically disappears, and Iqbal starts to choke and enter a trance. Another soul speaks through him, saying that the valley’s loud cries liberated the shadows and gave us the strength to protect them all. The smoke entity exits from Iqbal’s body and causes Gulnaar to be mentally transported to an unknown realm where she sees Shoaib, Noorie, Faisal, and other kidnapped kids.
Khalid reveals to the cops that he is part of an underground operation in which kids are selected and sent to Pakistan to train for the holy war. This act is called “harvesting” by Bhaijaan. As Gulnaar reveals to Ridwaan that she “saw” Noorie elsewhere, Khalid shockingly reveals that Faisal, Shoaib, and Noorie disappeared before they could be kidnapped for the holy war. Juneid takes his young nephew, Yassir, to the woods to travel beyond the border. Ridwaan shoots the handler. Yassir holds a gun and tries to defend himself. Ridwaan intercepts and tries to calm him down. The smoke entity appears and takes Yassir away, leaving only a tuft of his hair behind. Bhaijaan asks Juneid to go underground.
At night, Gulnaar, Iqbal, and Ridwaan try the food experiment in the attic. A possessed Ayaan walks in and speaks in the voice of a little girl named Eela Sapru, whose family and pet dog were betrayed in the past. Eela says she and her family were betrayed, and she violently scratches Ayaan’s forehead (her own forehead). Zainab arrives at the DSP’s house and reveals that she is being targeted for helping the cops. The house comes under attack from Juneid and his men. A shootout ensues with the cops and the militants on opposite sides.
Baramulla Ending: Are the Kidnapped Kids Alive? Why?
As the militants led by Juneid begin to attack DSP Ridwaan’s house, the situation becomes chaotic. Ayaan is taken out of the possessed state by his parents as he recovers. When Zainab, the teacher from the school, visits the house, she surprises the DSP by revealing that she is being targeted by the militants for helping the police. As the attackers enter the house, something shocking unfolds. The lights begin to flicker, and the smoke figures reappear. This time, the smoke figures transform into real humans, showing glimpses of the past to Ridwaan and his family. It is revealed that the house belonged to a Kashmiri Pandit family in the past. The happy family’s dreams come crashing down as they are targeted for their religious identity by extremists.
In the present, Ridwaan, Gulnaar, Ayaan, and Iqbal watch in horror as events from the past are shown to them in a supernatural way. Eela is revealed to be the young daughter of the family. The Pandits are asked to convert, leave, or die by the extremists in the house. Eela’s father refuses to convert to another religion, which makes the extremists angrier. The entire family is massacred, along with the dog named Sheru. The family members exist as ghosts in the present and are the smoke figures behind the kidnapping of the children. The kids are kidnapped by the smoke figures (souls) of the family before they are taken to the other side of the border. The “harvesting” mission run by Bhaijaan involves kidnapping kids and taking them to the other side of the border to train them for the holy war.
However, the souls prevent this from happening and hide the kids in the realm of the souls. In the physical realm, the present-day militants start to physically attack the police officer’s family. Ridwaan fights against the brutality of Juneid, who seems to be obsessed with killing the DSP. As the attackers seem to be gaining an upper hand, a team of police officers appears outside the house as backup. The officers threaten to barge in and ask Juneid to surrender without bloodshed. At this point, one of the souls takes over the body of Gulnaar, and she shoots Juneid to death. The attackers are neutralized, and the family is saved. The most shocking moment of the narrative occurs when we see Noorie safely transported back to the world of the living. After being held by the souls of the Pandits, she is returned to her parents, once the souls understand that she is out of danger.
Ridwaan and the other family members embrace Noorie. They see the souls of the Pandits waving at them, and wave back. The souls never intended to harm the kids, but only wanted to stop their indoctrination and journey towards hate. The kidnappings of the kids are followed by a tuft of hair being left behind in every instance. This represents the struggles of Eela. Her hair was cut by her mother in the past, an attempt to disguise her as a boy. Thus, Eela’s ghost leaves behind tufts of hair as a symbolic gesture of saving the kids in the present day. The dead family wanted to save another family from a fate similar to theirs. Later, Shoaib, Faisal, and Yassir are also returned to the world of the living, safe and sound. Thus, the kidnapped children are protected by supernatural elements and are saved from dangerous fates.
Who is Bhaijaan? Why Does Juneid Attack Ridwaan’s House?
The identity of the enigmatic “Bhaijaan” is one of the deepest mysteries of the film. Throughout the narrative, Bhaijaan orchestrates various dangerous activities in Baramulla, including the kidnapping and brainwashing of kids. Bhaijaan also organizes stone-pelting and other unrest in the region to achieve political goals. Juneid and Khalid are totally under the influence and control of the enigmatic individual, who asks them to organize the kidnapping of children. An unexpected revelation leads to shocking conclusions towards the end of the narrative. During the escape attempt by Eela’s family in the past, a young girl, their neighbor, betrays them. She gives up the hiding place of the family members, which enables the extremists to kill them.
In the present, Zainab, the school teacher, is shot to death by a possessed Gulnaar. This violent act surprises Ridwaan, who is a mere spectator at this point. Zainab, the seemingly innocent teacher at Noorie’s school, is revealed to be Bhaijaan. When Ridwaan picks up Juneid’s phone, he sees messages from Bhaijaan. When he calls the number, he sees Zainab’s phone ringing and displaying Juneid’s number. This confirms that Zainab is the mastermind behind the plot to destabilize Baramulla. She is loyal to elements from the other side of the border and intends to train kids for the holy war. Zainab is also the one who betrayed the Pandit family in the past. However, her efforts are foiled by the souls of the Pandits.
It can be presumed that Zainab was the one who commanded Juneid and his men secretly to attack the house. Juneid is just a pawn in the larger game and has no real motivation to launch the attack. His nephew Yasir was kidnapped by the souls earlier, which he may have assumed to be the work of the cops. He is more interested in survival and not war, so it is likely that Zainab commanded him to attack Ridwaan and his family. Thus, Bhaijaan secretly controls the actions of several players in the dangerous game of militancy.
Does Eela’s Family Get Justice? How?
Eela Sapru and her family are victims of ethnic cleansing and live as ghosts in the present. The injustice that they suffer at the hands of the extremists makes their souls act on behalf of the kids. Whether or not the family gets justice is a matter of perspective. The “blooming white flower,” which is an entity that occurs in the moments before the kids are kidnapped, assumes vital importance in this context. The flowers signify a message of peace. They also represent the agony and injustice suffered by the Pandit families of the past. In the present, the Sapru souls act on behalf of the Sayyed family and save them from the plot of Zainab. They get some kind of spiritual justice through the act of saving the kids from religious indoctrination.
Their aim is to ensure the safety of the kids and not let them become militants in the future. The fact that Ridwaan and his family members discover the truth about the Sapru family ensures justice to the victims. The truth of the Sapru family remains hidden for many years behind the walls of the house. As victims of ethnic cleansing, their identities, history, and faith are erased. But the discovery of the hidden room ensures that their reality will not be hidden from the outside world anymore. In conclusion, the Sapru family will presumably crawl towards the idea of justice.
Who is Sharad Sapru? Why Does the Sayyed Family Meet Him?
During the massacre of the Sapru family, one of the members luckily survives. As Eela’s father hesitates to leave the house, he says that Sharad still hasn’t reached the house. Sharad, for unknown reasons, isn’t in the house during the killing and is able to survive the ethnic cleansing by the extremists. In the present day, Ridwaan and his family leave Baramulla after the kidnapping case is solved. Noorie is saved by the souls. She was headed towards total indoctrination, but the intervention of the souls saved her from a dreadful fate. Six months later, Ridwaan and his family go to Mumbai and meet Sharad Sapru.
Ridwaan gives him the seashells from his past. The seashells were used as toys by Eela and Sharad in their childhood. Once he sees the seashells, he begins to cry profusely, remembering the fate of his family. It is revealed that he, too, is a doctor like his father. After surviving the ethnic cleansing, he is able to build a life for himself in Mumbai, far away from his birthplace. In conclusion, the meeting between the Sayyed family and Sharad Sapru signifies the beginning of a healing process for the Kashmiri Pandits at large, who still dream of returning to their homeland.
You must be logged in to post a comment.