Creepy corridors, eerie interiors, fear at every turn: How ‘Khauf’ creates dread

The show is titled Khauf, meaning dread – and dread it delivers in spades.

In the recently released Prime Video series, four women claim that their hostel in Delhi is haunted by a malevolent spirit. When Madhu (Monika Panwar) enters the hostel, it is unclear whether the women are projecting their anxieties onto her or something is actually lurking in the corridors and the back alley.

Herself a victim of violence, Madhu starts behaving in a manner that suggests demonic possession. A hoarse-voiced hakim (Rajat Kapoor) with a collection of poisonous potions gets involved, contributing an extra layer of creepiness.

Created by Smita Singh (Sacred Games, Raat Akeli Hai), Khauf uses the horror genre to explore the pervasive violence faced by women. The eight-episode series vividly harnesses lighting, lensing and production design (by Nitin Zihani Choudhary) to bring out Singh’s concerns. No space is free of fear or relief, with Delhi itself taking on the air of an open-air prison.

The Matchbox Shots production is co-directed by Pankaj Kumar, the brilliant cinematographer of Haider, Tumbbad and Guns & Gulaabs, and advertising filmmaker Surya Balakrishnan. The directors spoke to Scroll about finding the right visual schema to match Smita Singh’s vision of women trapped in and perverted by a toxic society. Here are edited excerpts from the interview.

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