Nikosh Chhaya

Announcement and development

Nikosh Chhaya was announced by Hoichoi on 15 October 2024, in its "Notun Bhabe Bachar Jonyo Notun Golpo" content announcement slate.^[5] It is the second installment of the Bhaduri Moshai series, after Parnashavarir Shaap (2023).^[6] Nikosh Chhaya was initially adopted as the working title, but later, it was finalised as the official title for the series.^[7]

There are only three stories in the Bhaduri Moshai series, of which Parnashavarir Shaap had already been done. Aranyer Prachin Prabad takes place when Bhaduri Moshai is young. So that was out of the question as it meant getting a younger actor to play him in place of Chiranjeet Chakraborty. I didn’t want to do that as the character had just been established and was well-accepted by the audience. That left Nikosh Chhaya as my only choice.

The second season titled Nikosh Chhaya 2, was announced on Hoichoi's "Golper Parbon 1432" content announcement slate on 28 February 2025.^[9] The usage of VFX in the series was kept minimal to make it look as real as possible. The team had an occult and tantra consultant along with them to ensure authenticity and realism, despite taking some cinematic liberties.^[10]

Pre-production

Stage actor Pallab Mukhopadhyay played the role of Genu, a demon who is loyal to his tantric Bhanu. His make-up took three hours daily, including putting up fake teeth, cloudy eye-lenses and rugged skin colouration. He was fed enough before filming because with the heavy prosthetics, it wouldn't be possible to eat during the filming breaks. Mukhopadhyay shared in an interview that Kanchan Mullick helped him to walk in the sets since he could barely see anything owing to the heavy prosthetics.^[11]

Casting

Chiranjeet Chakraborty reprised the role of Nirendranath Bhaduri a.k.a. Bhaduri Moshai from Parnashavarir Shaap (2023). Surangana Bandyopadhyay, Gaurav Chakrabarty, Arno Mukhopadhyay and Anindita Bose also reprised their roles from the first installemnt of the Bhaduri Moshai series.^[12] This time, Surangana plays Bhaduri Moshai's assistant while Gaurav plays an investigating police officer.^[13] Kanchan Mullick was roped in the to play the key antagonist in the series. Anujoy Chatterjee was cast in a pivotal role.^[7] Honey Bafna joined the cast in the second season, for which he withdrew himself from the television soap Shubo Bibaho.^[14]

Filming

Principal filmography for the first season started in August 2024 and was wrapped up within September 2024.^[7] Majority of the filming has been done in suburban Kolkata, primarily Barasat. Parts of the series has also been shot at Madhyamgram, Birati, Bantala and Baruipur.^[15] Pivotal scenes of the series have been shot at a morgue in Kolkata.^[16] Filming for the second season started in November 2025 and was completed within December 2025.^[17]

Season 1

Season 2

Critical reception

Poorna Banerjee of The Times of India rated the series 3.5/5 stars and wrote "It is difficult to find a series in Bengali that works to create a story that’s both supernatural and believable. However, the director does his best to extract excellent performances from each character, and utilises sound, colour and props to set the mood for the dark drama." She praised attention to details provided in the Tantric chants and background score, slow build-up throughout the episodes and the performances of the lead cast, particularly Kanchan and Chiranjeet.^[22]

Agnivo Niyogi of The Telegraph reviewed the series and opined "One of the show’s most significant achievements is its ability to make the paranormal feel plausible within a contemporary, urban context. Parambrata has managed to conjure a world where ancient occult practices seem not only possible but terrifyingly close to reality." He praised the performances of Chiranjeet as Niren Bhaduri, Kanchan as an Aghori tantric, Suranagana as Bhaduri Moshai's assistant and Gaurav in the role of a police officer, the cinematography and the effective cameos.^[23]

Sandipta Bhanja of Sangbad Pratidin reviewed the series and wrote "Non-lipid intense screenplay throughout six episodes, accompanied with light-shadow cinematography and intense acting drives the series." She praised the acting of Chiranjneet, Kanchan, Surangana and Gaurav in their respective roles and also praised Anujoy Chattopadhyay's short but strong performance.^[24]

Snigdha Dey of Aajkal reviewed the series and noted "Despite budget restraints and weak VFX, Parambrata and his team has given the best in this limited situation." She praised Kanchan's somatic performance as the tantric, Anujoy's traumatized performance, the background score and the lack of unnecessary jump scares but also mentioned that there could have been more fear inducing moments.^[25]

Shamayita Chakraborty of OTTplay rated the series 3/5 stars and highlighted "Parambrata's Nikosh Chaya is not just a better effort than his previous show Parnashavarir Shaap but also a step up in Bangla grotesque horror." She applauded the spooky background score, Kanchan Mullick and Chiranjeet's commanding performances in their respective roles and the acting mettle of Gaurav, Surangana and Anindita. But she criticized Chiranjeet's dialogues and diction, the filmsy conversations, barely scary body horror, the over simplistic storyline and predictable hallucination scenes.^[26]