Parchayee: Ghost Stories By Ruskin Bond Review

The series is for an OTT platform ZEE5. Produced by Banijay Asia and Opus Communication, it will be a series of episodes based on 12 stories written by Ruskin Bond.

The first four episodes will be based on popular stories - The Ghost in the Garden and The Wind on Haunted Hill, and Wilson's Bridge and The Overcoat - to be directed by V.K Prakash and Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury respectively.

Shot in the surreal cinematic locations across India, with mystic, magical, occult, psychic and supernatural elements, Parchayee - ghost stories by Ruskin Bond will redefine paranormal story depictions. Unlike usual horror plots which are sprinkled with envy, fear, anxiety and vengeance, these stories will take you into their world of mystery, secrecy and leave you craving for more. The first episode of the series is about a young boy who lives with his Grandmother, and whose father is mostly out on the seas. The young boy’s life takes a twist when he dreams about a strange woman who’s committed suicide by hanging herself from a nearby tree. In real life, there’s a scare about a kidnapper who’s trying to kidnap boys and girls from the school that he goes to.

Parchayee is based on Ruskin Bond’s stories, so the episode has a good, retro feel to it – and that’s a welcome change. After all, there’s very less children’s programming on the streaming platforms and ZEE5 has done a good job by bringing such content to the streaming platforms. The story is a typical fantasy tinged story based in the real world and would be interesting to parents as well as children. The performances are good, with the little Kabir Sajid bringing the childlike innocence to the going-ons. The others, Farida Jalal, Swanand Kirkire, Kurush Deboo and Bachchan Pacheria are solid actors and deliver the goods.

In all, this is nothing like the typical horror stuff we are more familiar with, but is more of a light family series with many fine performances by the cast, that surely deserves a watch, especially if you are already well-familiar with the world of Ruskin Bond.