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Khauf review: A chilling excursion into fear, trauma and fractured relationships
What: ‘Khauf’ - a working girls hostel becomes a center spot of psychogenic happenings and fear psychosis in writer creator Smita Singh’s eight-episode series ‘Khauf’. Bankrolled by Matchbox Shots Productions triggering a wave of horror and intrigue with consistently eerie atmospherics and ominous background scores.
Khauf web series synopsis
But Khauf is not centered only on Horror - it defies genre tropes while succumbing to some of the stereotypes in the climax, minimally. Plotted in the national capital, it talks about sexual assault, toxic masculinity and women’s safety and security while embedding seeds of black magic and possession.
Madhu (played by Monika Panwar, of ‘Jamtara’ fame) moves from her stifled Gwalior life and horrors of the assault to Delhi-NCR while aspiring for freedom and job. Little does she know that her new-found hostel room has a sinister presence, while being surrounded by a pack of girls who exhibit acute psychogenic behavior and dread daylight and outdoors. In a city swarmed with strangers and strange occurrences, her only source of solace is his boyfriend, Arun (Abhishek Chauhan – ‘Cubicles’) who is also nursing the trauma of the same incident, while disapproving her stay in the remotely placed hostel.
Writer of acclaimed projects like ‘Sacred Games’, Smita skillfully blends horror and a cohesive foray into the unknown. Creating a set of fascinating characters who share complex and troubled arcs, her writing and execution is sharp and nuanced, aided sumptuously by a swooping camerawork (Pankaj Kumar, Tumbbad, Ship of Theseus) exploring the clumsy and claustrophobic, and a distinct, horrifying score.
Smita and her directors Pankaj Kumar and Surya Balakrishnan plunge into black magic, psychiatry and grief as well. Rajat Kapoor’s roohani hakim is quite chilling and reminiscent of Anushka Sharma’s Pari (2018). As a doctor living in the dark, dingy and dilapidated house of purani Delhi and sacrificing women for his own survival, Kapoor keeps you thoroughly invested, while being chased by a grieving lady constable, Ilu Mishra (Geetanjali Kulkarni), in the company of her rigid warden-friend, Gracy Dung dung (Shalini Vatsa), and looking desperately for her missing son.
‘Khauf’ is certainly not an easy watch - Blood, brutalities and BC/MC gaalis dictate its languid narrative (yes, it needed a lot more precision in the editing scissors). Singh draws a contrast in the social anatomy of the capital with Shilpa Shukla playing an urban psychiatrist and spiritual healer and Gagan Arora playing Nakul, an upper-class boy with a hideous past.
Among the array of performances, it is Monika who stands out for her compelling part. She just doesn’t act, she lives Madhu. It’s an arduous and draining exercise that the young actress embarks on and adds a blazing feather on her repertoire. As her consoling boyfriend, Chauhan is good, especially in the emotional moments and outburst.
I go with 4 stars out of 5 for Khauf. This is the breed of cinematic horror I advocate – cerebral and hauntingly psychological.
Khauf is streaming on Amazon Prime Video from 18th April 2025.
Ahwaan Padhee, is an IT Techie/Business Consultant by profession and a film critic/cinephile by passion, is also associated with Radio Playback as well, loves writing and conducting movie quizzes. More By Ahwaan Padhee