If you are sitting at the edge of your seat, biting your fingernails, forgetting to eat or drink and watching television from behind the veil of your blanket, you are watching a horror show…
Indian television has been experimenting in the horror genre for ages – not that we have successfully managed to scare anyone but guess something is better than nothing.
Aahat: Sony TV’s Aahat was a long running show that was both scary and funny. The fictional show ran for five seasons, of which the first three managed to win the audience’s heart.
Scare-o-meter: 7/10
Zee Horror Show: The Ramsay brothers ran this show for five years. With their name attached to it and their long history in the genre, the audience knew what fear was. The brothers used a set of actors and stuck to them. Although the stories were fictionalised or copied from the best, Zee Horror Show remained at the top of its game for five long years.
Scare-o-meter: 8/10
Shhh…Koi Hai: The show aired on Star Plus and continued in the same genre without any re-invention. The TRP numbers were not that great initially, but the creative team tried a new concept when they brought in a crusader of evil vs a good force – Mamik Singh and later Salil Ankola. The show gained TRPs and managed to sustain popularity for three years.
Scare-o-meter: 4.5/10
Mano Ya Na Mano: A product by Balaji Telefilms; Ekta Kapoor and Jeetendra roped in Irrfan Khan to play the host for this series. The 68 episode show was unique, ‘coz it played on the common superstitions people had. Not overly dramatised, Mano Ya Na Mano managed to keep things as real as possible. Unfortunately, the show ran for just a year.
Scare-o-meter: 6/10
Woh: Unlike other shows, Woh was very different. The story revolved around seven teenagers who battled an evil force called ‘Woh’ for kidnapping children. They made a vow to return if and when they felt that the evil being was back. Fifteen years later, when one of them noticed signs of children missing, he called his friends back to fight it again. The show was very gripping while it ran and rather spooky.
Scare-o-meter: 8/10
Fear Files: Zee TV’s venture was mainly created to prey on people’s fears. The show over-dramatised the stories to the extent of freaking people out, though many episodes unfortunately made watchers giggle. The series always had a happy ending to each story. Which seemed most unlike real life, wethinks.
Scare-o-meter: 5.5/10
Bhoot Aaya: It’s barely been a month since the show went live on Sony TV and we are not very impressed. It tries to narrate real life stories revolving around the unexplained. The format of the show is similar to Fear Files on Zee TV. The makers have used the expertise of the Paranormal Society, but not to its full potential. There’s very little you can actually sho