Khauf

Khauf
Promotional release poster
Genre	Horror Thriller
Written by	Smita Singh
Directed by	Pankaj Kumar Surya Balakrishnan
Starring	Monika Panwar Rajat Kapoor Abhishek Chauhan Geetanjali Kulkarni Shilpa Shukla Chum Darang
Country of origin	India
Original language	Hindi
No. of episodes	8
Production
Producers	Sanjay Routray Sarita Patil
Cinematography	Pankaj Kumar
Camera setup	Multiple-camera
Running time	43–50 minutes
Production company	Matchbox Shots
Original release
Network	Amazon Prime Video
Release	18 April 2025 (2025-04-18)

Khauf (transl. Fear) is a 2025 Indian Hindi-language horror thriller¹ television series written by Smita Singh and directed by Pankaj Kumar and Surya Balakrishnan.²³ Produced under Matchbox Shots, starring Monika Panwar, Rajat Kapoor, Abhishek Chauhan, Geetanjali Kulkarni and Shilpa Shukla.⁴ The series premiered on Amazon Prime Video on 18 April 2025.⁵ The series is a partial and unofficial remake of the South Korean psychological horror series, Strangers from Hell.⁶

The series begins with a woman named Anu returning to the hostel after her work shift and is seen walking a narrow and deserted lane. While approaching the gate, a laser red light is cast upon her from the forest and she becomes agitated and starts screaming for the guard. Present day, Madhu is moving to Delhi from Gwalior. She has come to Delhi to be with her boyfriend, Arun and to get a fresh start after getting sexually assaulted at her college annual day by unknown masked men. Madhu sees Delhi as a chance to leave those memories behind. She is helped by her friend Bella and her boyfriend Nakul, whom she feels that the latter might be her assaulter. She feels uncomfortable to live in the flat in which her boyfriend shares with other male friends. It happens that Bella sends Madhu the location of the hostel, which Nakul found earlier and so on the day, she decides to visit the hostel with Arun. Pragati Working Women Hostel is a rundown government facility run by Warden, Gracie Dungdung where she is allotted the room 333. After much deliberation, she finally moves to the hostel and is met with extreme hostility by the other girls in the same wing, who never leave the hostel to go out. They warn her to not move to the hostel and leave while she can. She feels the presence of something supernatural and brushes it off while suspecting Nakul of being one of the men who assaulted her. Madhu starts to doubt her own sanity as strange things start occurring in the hostel room.

• Monika Panwar as Madhu
• Rajat Kapoor as Hakim
• Abhishek Chauhan as Arun
• Geetanjali Kulkarni as Constable Ilu Mishra
• Shilpa Shukla as Dr. Shohini Varma
• Chum Darang as Svetlana
• Asheema Vadaan as Anu/Preeti
• Rashmi Zurail Mann as Nikki
• Priyanka Setia as Rima
• Riya Shukla as Komal
• Gagan Arora as Nakul
• Shalini Vatsa as Warden Gracie Dungdung
• Arista Mehta as Kiara
• Talib Mehdi as Inspector Inder Bhatia
• Satyam Sharma as Jeeva
• Delzad Hiwale as Babban

On 19 March 2024, the series was announced by Amazon Prime Video.⁷ The post-production was completed in 2024.⁸

The teaser was released on 20 March 2024⁹ and the trailer was released on 11 April 2025.¹⁰

The series was made available to stream on Amazon Prime Video on 18 April 2025.¹¹

Abhimanyu Mathur of the Hindustan Times gave the series 3 out of 5 stars and reported that the film "introduces real-world issues in the world of horror."¹² Shubhra Gupta from The Indian Express rated the series 3/5 stars and said that "The series works best when its women, with all their pain and their messy back stories, are on screen, doing their thing."¹³ Archika Khurana of The Times of India gave 3.5/5 stars, writing that "for fans of psychological horror with a social conscience," the series "offers plenty to think about."¹⁴

Rahul Desai of The Hollywood Reporter India praised the series and called it "ambitious, original, inventive, [and] messy".¹⁵ Udita Jhunjhunwala of Scroll.in said that "its incessant and bloody violence, the misogyny and denigration of women, and the sheer hopelessness it conveys, Khauf is unsettling and exhausting."¹⁶Shubham Kulkarni of OTT Play gave 4 stars out of 5 and said that "What happens when a properly cooked script meets a bunch of supremely seasoned actors? Shows like Khauf are born and they teach how 'content' is done without an algorithm".¹⁷