Cast: Tisca Chopra, Saurabh Shukla, Rajesh Tailang

Director: Vikrant Pawar

In ancient times, Rajasthan’s village Shilaspura was cursed by a sorcerer, Ridhiyakan, who was deceitfully beheaded there. Legend has it that he is still imprisoned in a mound called Shilasthal, and if anyone disturbs the knoll, the sorcerer will destroy everything in a split second. Cut to the present, a disgraced IAS officer discovers that the rare minerals in Shilaspura’s mines could make the village flourish. To unearth these minerals, she inadvertently sets off a series of horrific incidents, embarking on an inner journey amid a strained relationship with her young son.

Bollywood Horror has always been an interesting segment of film for the industry. While there have been some good attempts in the past, making a Horror TV Hindi series has proved to be difficult. Luckily, Vikrant Pawar is here to deliver us a series that will keep you on the edge of your seat (and maybe even keep you up at night!).

Avni Raut (Tisca Chopra) is a IAS officer who takes on a project to mediate a deal between Mangon Mining Corporation and the citizens of a fictional town in Rajasthan, Shilaspura. While the mining company is wanting to use the site to find rare minerals, the citizens warn that the site is legacy to a monster. Dedicated to completing the case, Avni Raut investigates and opens a chain of events that takes place over the course to this nine episode series.

WATCH OUR REVIEW

First off, Pawar is doing something that we see many directors fail to do which is MEANINGFUL DEVELOPMENT. This series does not pack every minute with suspenseful moments and jump scares but rather let’s the horror come out organically through the story. This allows this series to have a good pace and let Pawar tell the story of these characters while sprinkling in the right amount of well executed scary scenes.

The relationship between Avni and her son Amay is interesting and allows us to feel more for our main character as her son is going through a rebellious phase and believes that his mother is not telling him all the details of his dead father. To that note, Tisca Chopra delivers a great performance of being both a widowed mother and a IAS officer. Other notable and great performances were from Rohan Joshi who played her son Amay and Rajesh Tailang.

While this series does have a somewhat slow start, the series paces very well and leads to some great climatic moments. Ultimately, I felt that this series was everything BUT cheesy. Pawar took his time to create a WORLD instead of a scene which allowed me to be more invested in the village and its lore. This series is filled with drama, mystery, horror combined with plot twists that will keep you invested throughout the entire series. As I watched the credits line up on the final episode, I couldn’t help but feel satisfied.

Well done to the cast and director and I hope to see more of this in the industry!