Nikosh Chhaya review: Kanchan Mullick shines in this creepy drama

3/5

Nikosh Chhaya Story

A couple of corpses disappear from a morgue. Police officer Amiya (Gaurab Chakrabarty) and his team start investigating. They learn about a little stinky monster, Genu, who reminds him of an old story. Amiya and Titas (Anindita Bose) remember that their old friend Sanjay (Anujoy Chatterjee) told them a story of a similar monster 10 years ago and both the descriptions match. That’s when Amiya seeks help from Bhaduri Moshai (Chiranjeet Chakraborty).  

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Nikosh Chhaya review

Will Nikosh Chaya have you sleeping with your lights on? Perhaps not. But it is still a show that will send some chills down your spine. In a space that has pitiful low scary content, Parambrata’s body horror Nikosh Chhaya is surely a fair effort.  

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The show follows a compact story dotted with revenge, childhood trauma, greed for power, and, essentially, the fight between good and evil. A body horror film or a show demands a lot of VFX. The limited resources in the Bengali entertainment industry often render hideous visuals that barely scare you. Here, the body horror is smartly portrayed. The show does not look tacky. The monster, Genu, has a convincingly grotesque makeup that will give you eeks. The background score is fittingly spooky.  

Kanchan Mullick plays Bhanu and he does a fabulous job. In a scene where he is reprimanded by Niren Bhaduri, Bhanu does not speak. His chilling gaze speaks for him. Kanchan is outstanding in that shot. Bhanu’s deadpan look, hissing voice, rage, and thirst for blood are duly represented. An actor, who thrives in comedy, successfully transformed himself into a fiery occult master and deserves to be lauded for his effort.  

Gaurav is great as he usually is. Surangana and Anindita do their job fairly well. The dialogues, diction, and pace of conversation of Chiranjeet appear to be flimsy. The actor makes it up with his acting, especially in the climax scene. Meanwhile, Anujoy, who plays Sanjay, does a good job as a traumatised and vulnerable person. Young Sanjay, played by Trishanjit, is outstanding in his appearance.  

The story, on the other hand, appears to be too simplistic. The hallucination bits are predictable. The crux of the story is also not really scary. However, it is compact, gripping, and ends with a clear possibility of a third season.  

Nikosh Chhaya verdict

Typically, our ghosts are good souls, kind, helpless, and helpful. Some scary ghosts managed to take place in literature but the number of horror films, especially in contemporary cinema, is pitifully low. Parambrata’s Nikosh Chaya is not just a better effort than his previous show Parnashavarir Shaap but also a step up in Bangla grotesque horror.