It’s the Diwali weekend, more precisely it’s Bhoot Chaturdoshi tomorrow and while you light the fourteen candles or diyas outside your homes to ward off evil spirits, be sure to welcome the web series Parnashavarir Shaap into your homes. The new series directed by Parambrata Chattopadhyay which was released earlier today on hoichoi has been piquing the interest of the audience and for all the right reasons.
When four friends Amiyo (Gaurav Chakrabarty), Mitul (Surangana Bandyopadhyay), Titas (Anindita Bose), and Pallav (Arna Mukhopadhyay) visit the hills for vacation, things start going awry after a chance spotting of an old relic. To figure out the problem enters the occult specialist Nirendranath Bhaduri (Chiranjeet).
After visiting the special screening of the web series Indulge gives you reasons to watch the web series.
Superb Soundscape
Even before the series begins what glues you to your seat is the soundscape of the series. The bass-base sounds including chanting start creating the much desired ambience for the show. Sound designer Adeep Singh Manki and sound mixer Tanmoy Saha have worked on creating a sound that hints to almost magical realism especially when the series location is the beautiful but mysterious hills. It is highly recommended to watch the series with earphones, headphones, or even in a room with a good sound system to take in the ambience completely.
Horror-some Cinematography
The spine-chilling ambience of the hills has been ably captured by the Director of Photography Prosenjit Chowdhury. From the deep dense forest to the foggy terrace-scape of the hills, from the lantern light glowing due to power cuts to the every-minute changing weather, the atmosphere is well-captured and complements the eeriness of the narrative.
Acing the Acting game
The protagonists, Gaurav, Surangana, Anindita, and Arna have outdone many of their previous performances through the natural and extremely relatable acting. From seriously witty one-liners to the onset of possession, all came to them naturally. Special mention have to be made of Surangana and Arna whose hard work and commitment to their career is making them climb the ladders. They are undoubtedly emerging as one of the finest of their generation.
Amazing Debut
Much acclaimed veteran actor Chiranjeet made his web-series debut with Parnashavarir Shaap. Playing Nirendranath Bhaduri who works with the occult, his character adds a special charm to the story, almost like Ed and Lorraine Warren from the Conjuring Universe. His charming personality and gracious aura make him fit the role perfectly.
Perfect and Beyond Horror
Horror itself is an underexplored genre in terms of content-making, be it films or on the OTT platform. Parambrata’s strive to adapt Souvik Chakroborty’s novel by the same name adds to the repertoire of the Bengali-horror genre. To release it around Bhoot Chaturdoshi was an even cleverer move as especially during this time people love to watch horror-related content.
Coming to director Chattopadhyay, his brilliance lies in the fact that he builds up the atmosphere complementing it with the ambience, sound, and narrative; instead of straight away filling in with jump cuts. The storyline features comical moments which are a sigh of relief amidst the building up tension. It also talks about superstitions, faith, injustice, greed, and sacrifice making it humane as it goes along. Having explored several genres throughout his directorial career, Chattopadhyay’s making of a horror series would be always etched in the minds of the people.
Parnashavarir Shaap surely provides an edge-of-the-seat thrill while you take in the mystery that unfolds slowly. It is definitely the weekend binge with friends, family, and spirits!
Parnashavarir Shaap is streaming on hoichoi