Parents' Guide to Baramulla

It's too bad this thriller doesn't deliver on its potential. The film begins as an intriguing supernatural mystery: a missing child, a magician's trick gone wrong, a town cloaked in fog and unease. Baramulla quickly sets up a world that feels haunted and politically charged, where what's unseen carries more weight than what's visible. Yet as the story unfolds, it loses that sense of focus and becomes several different movies competing for space. What begins as a stylish thriller turns into a tangled hybrid of social drama, crime story, and horror, until it collapses under the weight of its own ambitions.

Manav Kaul, who plays Ridwaan Sayyed, delivers a performance so layered and soulful that he almost saves the entire film. He carries himself like a man haunted by guilt and duty, his silence often saying more than the dialogue ever could. You can feel the weight of a father who can't protect his child and a policeman who can't protect his people. It's a stunning performance trapped inside a film that doesn't quite know what it wants to be. The result is a frustrating watch, one that begins with promise, offers flashes of brilliance, and then fades into confusion.