New Delhi: Bengali actor and filmmaker Parambrata Chatterjee is confident that fans will receive his upcoming horror web series, titled Bhog, well. Starring Anirban Bhattacharya and Parno Mittra, Bhog is based on a popular Bengali novella by Avik Sarkar.
“I am quite averse to boasting, but for revival of the supernatural in Bangla entertainment, I can take credit,” said the actor who has also starred in the horror flick Pari (2018). Bhog is the third show in the genre by Chatterjee, who earlier directed Parnashavarir Shaap (2023) and Nikosh Chhaya (2024).
The web series, set to release on 1 May on Bengali OTT platform Hoichoi, features Bhattcharya as Atin, a lonely man who finds a brass idol and begins worshipping it, as the idol has a sinister control over him. Parno Mittra plays a mysterious widow who is urging Atin to offer bhog to the goddess.
The motion poster shows Mittra dressed like the brass idol with her skin green in colour, placing her hand on Bhattacharya, who has a bright red tilak on his forehead and sits with folded hands, with a black cloth draped across his shoulder.
For the Bengali audience, Bhog is not a new story. Avik Sarkar’s story was part of the popular audio series called Sunday Suspense on Radio Mirchi. The series is a staple in Bengali households and an established name in the genre of horror.
Risk of re-interpretation
Chatterjee was fascinated by the world of Bhog. “I selected this story because I remember being very scared when I first read it. The story also has certain subtle layers which I wanted to explore, along with mythological elements that interested me,” he said.
He looks at Atin’s loneliness and state of mind when he encounters the mysterious, eerie idol. But he is careful not to change the story.
“I have seen the kind of offence people take when there are re-interpretations to popular stories and Bengali classics,” said Chatterjee, referring to the backlash he received for Shabash Feluda (2023). The web series, based on the detective character created by Satyajit Ray, had a female character called Sauraseni, and was also set in more contemporary times with Feluda using a mobile phone.
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Future of anthologies
The detective—or goyenda, as he’s called in Bengali—is a staple of Bengali entertainment, with countless literary characters adapted into films, TV shows, and web series. But horror has not been explored much.
“When I mentioned I wanted to make horror, my proposal was met with surprise. But I was confident that Bengalis being a race of Shaktas, and Bengali literature dotted with supernatural stories that are popular, I was very confident that if horror has to work somewhere, it would be among the Bengali audience,” said Chatterjee.
Bhattacharya was the unanimous first choice. Chatterjee even had the actor’s name on the pitch deck.
“I am looking to make a lot more films in this genre,” said Chatterjee. He has also been sourcing horror stories from across India to create a possible anthology in the future.
(Edited by Ratan Priya)