Barot House 2019

In the tranquil town of Daman, the Barot House stands as a quiet anchor for a family led by Amit Barot and his wife Bhavana Barot. They share their home with Amit’s elderly mother and four children, living in a scene that feels peaceful on the surface but soon begins to crumble under a shadow of tragedy.

On Janmashtami, the youngest thrill of the family’s routine is broken when Shreya vanishes during a game of hide and seek. The very next day, her body is found in a graveyard, jolting the household and drawing the attention of the neighborhood. Suspicion quickly falls on Amit’s younger brother Ajay and their neighbour, Anthony, setting off a chain of distrust that threads through every room of the house. Soon after, the second daughter dies, deepening the family’s grief and pushing the police to scrutinize Ajay even more.

Emotionally drained, Amit and Bhavana begin to weather a storm of fear and anger. Amit’s suspicions shift toward his own son, Malhar, especially after a disturbing incident in which Malhar allegedly tried to drown his baby sister Sneha—though Sneha was saved by Amit. Malhar’s reluctant confession only hardens the tension, and his admission casts a long, unsettling shadow over the family’s dynamic.

The tension intensifies when Anthony’s son Roshan is murdered. In a moment of panic, Amit contemplates sacrificing Malhar to protect everyone, an action he cannot bring himself to complete. The police press Amit for answers, and he points the finger at Malhar as Roshan’s killer, a claim Malhar himself does not fully deny.

Following this, Malhar voluntarily enters a juvenile home, and a psychologist attempts to uncover the truth behind his quiet, inscrutable behavior. Malhar resists openness, reluctant to face his father, and the sessions reveal unsettling physical scars on his back. When asked to draw, Malhar initially creates a disturbing image of his father killing the girls with him watching from a distance, then discards it and reveals a drawing of himself playing tabla. The psychologist, watching through CCTV, interprets these visuals as a sign that Malhar worships his father and that Amit might be the true killer, a dynamic that complicates any straightforward reading of innocence.

As investigators turn their attention back to the family, tensions boil over with accusations and whispered rumors. It emerges that Amit and Anthony’s wife Sophia suspect Bhavana and Anthony of having an affair, while Amit has long believed Shreya and Shruti could be Anthony’s daughters. Under the weight of these revelations, Amit is arrested, and Malhar is released from the juvenile home, though the underlying truth remains unfinished.

Weeks later, a chilling act occurs as Malhar suddenly throws Sneha into a well from upstairs, a moment Bhavana witnesses in horror and screams to confront. The incident marks a grim turning point in the family’s saga, and the community is left to reckon with what has happened and why.

In the epilogue, Amit is released from jail and Malhar is arrested again. The family chooses a new path, adopting three daughters and renaming them Shreya, Shruti, and Sneha, and moving away from the Barot house to forge a new life. They never see Malhar again. It is left to speculation that Malhar may have schizophrenia, a man deftly manipulating perceptions enough to keep his silence while CCTV footage continues to tell part of the story. He never offers a stated reason for the brutal acts that haunt the family, leaving a lingering question about motive, truth, and the boundaries between protection and peril.