Pet Kata Shaw: Not An Expected Horror

Pet Kata Shaw… BRUH…!!

That is it. After watching the first episode of the new Chorki show “Pet Kata Shaw”, that’s the review of what I felt. That’s the wordification of what I can say about it. I’m trying to find more than one word and structure a complete sentence, but nope, that’s all I can say about it at the moment.

Okay. DEEP BREATH. CALM DOWN. Nafisa, YOU CAN DO THIS! So, let’s address the eleph…fish in the room, shall we?

Bangladeshi Horror Pet Kata Shaw

Let’s face it. Watching Bangla Natoks is tiring these days with all the international stuff we’re binge-watching in our day-to-day lives. Good thing Bangla OTP platforms are here to make one last effort to bring in modern audiences, and they’re doing better than many expected. One thing they’re definitely doing great is now creators are into making more thrillers. Something we wouldn’t have expected half a decade ago, when our only source of goosebumps in the Bangla language was Bangla thriller novels.

And, what about the horror genre?  Let’s call a spade a spade. To deliver a good jump scare or to make the audience’s hearts beat faster is not an easy task. And it’s even harder to produce something of that sort in an industry that’s still at the apprentice level when it comes to the art of filmmaking. 

However, that doesn’t mean we don’t have potential talents capable of that sort of production. We do, so my thirst for something creepy has been stronger than ever in recent years.

Luckily, many creators are trying this genre for real, which makes me giddy with excitement seeing my favorite genre being explored in our industry. And then seeing Nuhash Ahmed presenting us with his new web series “Pet Kata Shaw” just felt like something I didn’t know I needed, but I DEFINITELY DID!

Pet Kata Shaw

“Pett Kata Shaw” is a Chorki original series. Directed by Nuhash Humayun. 

As it says on the platform, “Pet Kata Shaw” is here to explore Bangla folklores and legends that have been told and shared from generation to generation in a more urban and modern perspective. “May our culture and heritages live long, and so should our ghost stories be included!” – that is the production’s objective. 

It’s an anthology series with four episodes in total. The show is about exploring the myths and legends that we didn’t officially learn but got to know from other people through generations, hence the name “Pett Kata Shaw”. As Nuhash Humayun explained, this is not the official name of the associated letter nor introduced in the books with this name. Yet this is how we get introduced to this letter from our childhood by hearing the name from people around us, just like our folklore and tales.

Now, let’s talk about the first episode, released on 7th April: Ei Building E Meye Nishedh.

Ei Building E Meye Nishedh

This is the first episode of the series Pet Kata Shaw. It was written, directed, and edited by Nuhash Humayun and produced by Redoan Rony. Starring Shohel Mondol and Sharmin Akter Shela. 

The synopsis goes like this; a young man returns home with a fish to cook and unintentionally invites along a “Petni” with the stenchy smell of fish. And to save his own life, he has to feed the “Petni”, the said fish.

My Take on the Episode

The first word of this article, that’s exactly how I felt after finishing the episode. However, it wasn’t exactly my reaction when I started watching it. So I will give it to Nuhash for making something where I couldn’t guess how the story would end. 

The Petni wasn’t scary at all. For all the seconds she graced my screen, I didn’t feel uncomfortable for one moment. I don’t know if a pageant winner can’t look gross or if the makeup team needs to work more on their special effect skills; either way, all I could think was, shawty got a nice manicure. 

I think that’s the last thing that should be in your mind when you’re seeing a petni that goes on a killing spree if not fed fish immediately.

The visuals were decent, and so was the narration. Shohel was more believable in his character than Shela, unfortunately. The background music choice was commendable; Nuhash knows his way around unpleasant violin screech at the right moment. Yes, at some points, I did have a “PAUSE-ible” reaction like “Oh no, he DIDN’T!” and “OH NO, HE DEAD NOW MAYBE!” so that felt like an achievement. 

But overall, it wasn’t that thrilling. Nice episode, but great horror? Nah.

And Lastly

They tried to bring in macabre stuff in several segments to disgust the public, but the attempt failed every time, in my opinion. Cause it didn’t feel gross to me; rather, some approaches appeared to be way too childish. (Or maybe I’m just dead inside?)

And the twist in the end. That kinda felt… I don’t know how to explain; You watch, and you decide. Maybe that’s the gross part they subtly added for the audience, and we focused on the wrong scenes to feel horrified? That would make more sense! I will give this 5.5 out of 10.

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