Robin Bhuyan
If you are into horror mystery series that can mess with your mind, then Dhootha might be the perfect web series for you. The series, which released in December 2023, is directed by Vikram Kumar, who has given us movies like 13B and 24: Time Story. Dhootha is about a well-respected journalist named Sagar, who becomes the Chief Editor of a new newspaper. Along with his pregnant wife Priya, played by Priya Bhavani Shankar, who is also a journalist, and his little daughter, Sagar seems to have a perfect and happy life, but things turn ugly when he starts finding newspaper clippings that start predicting tragedies in advance. He finds this extremely confusing and soon, he loses his colleague Charles to suicide. Apparently, Charles was being haunted by the same mysterious entity that has been begun to haunt Sagar.
When we talk about Indian cinema, very rarely we find horror content that is of exceptional quality, which doesn’t rely on jumpscares. Not only Dhootha is just a well-written web series, but it also presents us a main lead, which is not the typical good-boy. Sagar, portrayed by Naga Chaitanya, plays the role of a journalist who is not just flawed, but even starts becoming unlikable to a huge extent. Not only does he sell the ethics of journalism, but he also cheats on his wife with his assistant Umrutha, played by Prachi Desai, who swears revenge on him, after Sagar chooses to stick with his wife, after Umrutha gets pregnant. Meanwhile, Kranthi, a police officer, tries to enquire about the deaths that seem to keep occurring one after the other. She tries to put the pieces together, while Sagar keeps trying his best to protect himself and his family.
The series lasts for eight episodes long, and the best thing is that it will not bore you for a bit, though there are certain parts that could have been written better. Talking about the technical aspects of the series, the sound and cinematography was quite well done, as it manages to maintain the dark and mysterious mood throughout the show.
So, yes, if you are looking for quality content that also has a strong social message, you can definitely give this a watch! But make sure that you have at least 5-6 of free time before watching! Because once you start, you might get addicted to it, and won’t be able to stop till you finish!
Rating: 9 out of 10 stars
