As someone who graduated in electronics and telecom engineering, Aditya Suhas Jambhale is a science buff. Yet, the engineer-turned-director loves worlds where one can imagine beyond what is “scientifically justified”. It is from this instinct that his second Hindi feature, Baramulla, is born. “I didn’t want jump-scare horror in Kashmir. The challenge was whether we can make something rooted in whispers that locals grow up with,” starts the director about the upcoming Manav Kaul-starrer.

Producer Aditya Dhar first floated the idea of a horror film set in Kashmir, even sharing a three-page draft. Jambhale took it and disappeared to Goa for months. “I told Aditya, ‘If I’m doing this, I have to change everything’,” recalls Jambhale. He finally returned with a 120-plus-page new script that was approved almost instantly by Dhar.