Supernatural TV series in India - particularly the south - are booming. It's not hard to see why, the cultural mythology of India is awash with folk horror potential. The boom has drawn attention to an Asian milieu distinct from the vampires and werewolves of Europe. Instead, we find Naagin, Daayans and Chudails.
Naagin (2015-23) may have set the ball rolling. The soap opera tale of beautiful women who are really shape-shifting serpents has a Dark Shadows feel but with better special effects. The show has already produced two spinoff series. You can watch pretty much all the 400+ episodes from six series (with a seventh in production) in the usual place but meanwhile here's a clip of what to expect:
“We have our own folklore, we have our ‘daayans’ and ‘chudails’ and their appeal is pan-Indian," said writer Mrinal Jha. " These stories have been around for a long time, we did not have to do much with them. Our idea was to explore this world and then create a universe around it. That is what I think happened with ‘Naagin’ when we explored the folk tales around the theme.”
Daayans are beautiful women who are evil witches and chudails are sad creatures, the remnant spirits of women who have died in childbirth. Returning to Earth to find their children, chudails become soul-eaters who steal the children of others.
Nazar features Monalisa as a daayan. It ran for 400 episodes pre-pandemic but the disruption forced the cancellation of the series even as it peaked. Divya Drishti ran for a hundred episodes at the same time. It featured two sisters separated by a flesh-eating demon - a pishachini. After many tribulations, they reunite to defeat their enemy. Another series named Pishachini was launched in 2022 and features a chudail returning to earth to destroy a family that caused her pain in life. The series was praised in particular for its extreme plotlines.
Nazar
“If you see ‘Nazar’, ‘Divya Drishti’ or ‘Pishachini’, (all episodes on a popular video-sharing site) all of these are explorations of the supernatural world," said Jha. "That’s the idea, you create a universe and these characters become fantastical, and then you can create more and more spinoffs from them. These stories are heard in the smallest of the villages across India. So the relatability is really high. When I started working on ‘Nazar’, I spoke to a number of people from villages and places like that, and everyone had heard about a ‘daayan’, or ‘chudail’, or ‘pishaachini’. Everyone was aware of some story or the other.”
Divya Drishti
“I think the connection was immediate," Jha said. "We borrowed a lot of beliefs from there and then expanded on them. I think one of the reasons why this genre clicked was because these stories are a part of our culture, and all of us in our childhood have heard some story or the other about these fantastical creatures. The interest in watching stories about them playing out on television was obvious.”
Pishachini - we have a new neighbour.....
Naagin (2015-23) may have set the ball rolling. The soap opera tale of beautiful women who are really shape-shifting serpents has a Dark Shadows feel but with better special effects. The show has already produced two spinoff series. You can watch pretty much all the 400+ episodes from six series (with a seventh in production) in the usual place but meanwhile here's a clip of what to expect:
“We have our own folklore, we have our ‘daayans’ and ‘chudails’ and their appeal is pan-Indian," said writer Mrinal Jha. " These stories have been around for a long time, we did not have to do much with them. Our idea was to explore this world and then create a universe around it. That is what I think happened with ‘Naagin’ when we explored the folk tales around the theme.”
Daayans are beautiful women who are evil witches and chudails are sad creatures, the remnant spirits of women who have died in childbirth. Returning to Earth to find their children, chudails become soul-eaters who steal the children of others.
Nazar features Monalisa as a daayan. It ran for 400 episodes pre-pandemic but the disruption forced the cancellation of the series even as it peaked. Divya Drishti ran for a hundred episodes at the same time. It featured two sisters separated by a flesh-eating demon - a pishachini. After many tribulations, they reunite to defeat their enemy. Another series named Pishachini was launched in 2022 and features a chudail returning to earth to destroy a family that caused her pain in life. The series was praised in particular for its extreme plotlines.
Nazar
“If you see ‘Nazar’, ‘Divya Drishti’ or ‘Pishachini’, (all episodes on a popular video-sharing site) all of these are explorations of the supernatural world," said Jha. "That’s the idea, you create a universe and these characters become fantastical, and then you can create more and more spinoffs from them. These stories are heard in the smallest of the villages across India. So the relatability is really high. When I started working on ‘Nazar’, I spoke to a number of people from villages and places like that, and everyone had heard about a ‘daayan’, or ‘chudail’, or ‘pishaachini’. Everyone was aware of some story or the other.”
Divya Drishti
“I think the connection was immediate," Jha said. "We borrowed a lot of beliefs from there and then expanded on them. I think one of the reasons why this genre clicked was because these stories are a part of our culture, and all of us in our childhood have heard some story or the other about these fantastical creatures. The interest in watching stories about them playing out on television was obvious.”
Pishachini - we have a new neighbour.....
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