director aamir bashircastshahnawaz bhat mohammad amir najiharud meaning autumn is a film that largely tries to encapsulate the vulnerable plight of any average family that resides in the troubled state of kashmir in india the politics of kashmir has always been a complicated chronicle and harud doesnt try to make it any simple for its viewer rather with its metaphorical treatment director aamir bashir makes the issue more obscure for any audience who isnt accustomed to the history that has left the geography of the state undefined the story is about rafiq shahnawaz bhat a kashmir resident who has made a failed attempt to escape to pakistan his family is still coping with the loss of their elder son to the helpless stateofaffairs rafiq leads a clueless existence until he comes across his brothers camera that gives his life some direction meanwhile his father mohammad amir naji turns paranoid with the growing violence in the state until a military bullet finds another victimharud doesnt probe into the history of insurgency in kashmir but attempts to explore its aftermath on the innocent inhabitants director aamir bashir a native of the state himself makes an effort to highlight how several harmless denizens turn victims to the extremism of the army but his direction is stilted with an intentional inclination towards arthouse and abstract overtones and in resorting to such symbolism the original concern gets camouflaged in the films pretentious attitude so there is everything one can associate with the arty genre from extreme closeup shots longdrawnout scenes and disturbing camera movements but the problem is that none of that seems natural or needed and rather comes with a deliberate motive to go offbeat its more of an attentionseeking gimmick which badly backfires and thereby doesnt have any effect the idea behind the stagnancy in pacing and monotony in the daily routine of rafiq might have been to show the void in his life theres a sense of distress in the viewer but its not out of empathy towards the protagonist its more for testing ones patience add to that the film steers away from having a coherent plotline the disjointed screenplay comprises of random sequences and abstract shots further the film indulges in an excess of whats apparent like the repetitiveness in rafiqs routine but cuts short portions most important and integral to the narrative it leaves that to your imagination and understanding thereby trying to be pseudointellectual this is not subtlety but blandness often the film has a onesided outlook further its too understated in the stance that it takes and in that way fails to make a strong point often reminiscent of the texture of iranian cinema aamir bashirs inspiration is however superficial the film also stars irani actor mohammad amir naji aka reza naji a regular in majid majidis films like children of heaven and the songs of sparrow amongst the few fervent moments in the film is a sequence where mobile service is introduced in kashmir in mid