Parambrata Chatterjee on Bhog and his deep interest in supernatural genre, “I’m a big fan of Western horror films, right from The Shining to all the way to Jordan Peele’s works”

By Subhash K. Jha -

May 13, 2025 - 12:27 PM IST

Actor Parambrata Chatterjee’s horror web series Bhog recently started streaming on HoiChoi. He got talking about the Bengali show and his interest in this genre in an interview with us.

Parambrata Chatterjee on Bhog and his deep interest in supernatural genre, “I’m a big fan of Western horror films, right from The Shining to all the way to Jordan Peele’s works”

Your web series Bhog is one of the eeriest things I’ve seen. What brought you this subject?
I've always been interested in the supernatural ever since I was like a teenager. But somewhere somehow this interest was sort of lying dormant until about three-four years ago when I suddenly realized that there's a tremendous amount of curiosity and interest amongst consumers, among the watchers, among viewers, among amongst readers about supernatural literature; and a lot of that is being converted into audio stories.

So, it started with an interest in audio stories?
Yes, I got quite fascinated with the idea of audio stories based on such supernatural literature. And I also realized how much of a traction it's garnering. So, I myself got into it, ended up hearing quite a few of them. Not all of them are good by the way. But some of them are brilliant actually. So. Bhog was one of the very first stories which I came across in that process. I also realized the enormous amount of following, almost a cult following that this particular story enjoys.

Was it difficult getting the rights to make the series?
I got in touch with the author Avik Sarkar. I started reading more works by the same author. And I'm actually also working on quite a few of his other stories, not just in Bangla, but I'm also planning to adapt some of Avik Sarkar’s works in Hindi.

Why so much focus on the supernatural?
I'll tell you why. I'm, we all are, a big fan of Western horror films right from The Shining to all the way to Jordan Peele's works in contemporary times. I love those films and I take a lot of inspiration from them, you know how they blend social psychology with horror. And I'm absolutely fascinated by it. I have always felt that if I want to do something in the supernatural horror space in this country, I will have to root the horror in local folklore, in local culture, in our own sort of mythological or social folklore structure, or against the backdrop. But there is a difference between the horror space in the West and here in our country.

How so?
I feel that the supernatural space in the West where is pretty black and white , it's either good or bad. It's just God and the Devil. For us, it's a lot more gray, as you’ve seen in Bhog. A lot of these so-called evil beings, whether they are pisachas or Dakini's and yoginis, they actually are subservient to our Gods themselves. The pantheon of gods and goddesses in our land is so so varied and so multifaceted that the idea of evil cannot be so black and white and that's where the magic lies. I've always felt so while I wanted to incorporate the idea of blending social psychology and other larger themes. I decidedly wanted to root it in our own mythology our own social psyche and the way the belief systems work in our country and without being disrespectful towards them.

That’s how your supernatural journey began?
That is the reason why I started making the kind of supernatural horror that I have made since 2023. I went on to build a franchise around the central character of that particular series. The second edition came out in 2024 in the form of another series called Nikosh Chhaya and we will be making Nikosh Chaya 2 in this season and in this year. Because those horror pieces were doing quite well. On the platform, they wanted me to do something beyond the franchise in a similar space. So my immediate choice was Bhog because that's kind of the horror story that I liked three four years ago, so I immediately pounced on it. We realized that the Bengali rights were still available. We made sure we got the rights and we started working on it. Meanwhile, I have already started collaborating with the author on some of his other stories.

Casting Anirban Bhattacharya in the lead in Bhog was a masterstroke
I don't know if you have seen anything else that he has worked on. Anirban really, in the last decade or so, has emerged as one of the most consummate and powerful actors in Bengali cinema. He's slightly younger than me, but looks probably a little older than. But broadly he can be called our generation. Although he has started much much much later than let's say Abir Chatterjee, Jishu Sengupta or myself, Anirban, sort of, came into the limelight around 2014-15. I would say which is fairly recent compared to Abhir Jishu or myself. But he really has emerged as one of the most eminent actors and thinkers. He's a director himself. He made a lovely film two or three years ago called Ballavpurer Rupkotha based on a Badal Sarkar play.

He comes from a theatre background. I mean one can truly call him a thespian. He has been a friend. He's been someone with whom I gel well in terms of our wavelength. We really connect well with each other and I've always wanted to direct him and I've seen him doing a lot of other work for which he has also gained quite a bit of popularity. There are very few actors these days whom you can actually use for histrionics. So yeah, I've always wanted to direct him and although we have known each other and been quite good friends for the last five years or so, this was the first time I got to direct him.

What was the experience like?
It was a sheer delight.

Also Read: Parambrata Chatterjee on his directorial Ei Raat Tomar Amaar, “Always wanted to see my parents grow old together, I did not have that opportunity”