‘Pett Kata Shaw’ review: Ghostly anthology rooted in folk culture breaks new ground

Nuhash Humayun’s Bangladeshi film explores the horror genre and has evolved from being a web series to becoming a solid anthology of four stories

• Asjad Nazir
• 01 November, 2023

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By: Asjad Nazir

WITH his award-winning short film Moshari, Nuhash Humayun announced himself as a writer-director from Bangladesh to look out for.

That has been confirmed with his feature debut Pett Kata Shaw, which had its UK premiere at the recent Raindance Film Festival in London. Like Moshari, his Bangla feature film too explores the horror genre and has evolved from being a web series to becoming a solid anthology of four stories.

The first revolves around a forgetful shop owner, who is visited by a sweettoothed ghost and given a memorable gift that turns into a curse. There is also the story of a demonic fish-loving entity, who invades a young man’s residence and another about a couple, who get stranded in a village that is the source of superstitions. The gripping collection of short films is rounded off by the story of a guilt-ridden man, coming to terms with a tragedy, who is drawn towards a ghostly presence in the ocean.

The clearly skilled filmmaker offers up four gripping short films and weaves them together into haunting tales rooted in local culture. The beautifully shot stories, which could all quite easily have been feature films, offer contrasting styles of ghostly tales that keep you fully engaged.

The atmospheric offerings take a dive into the horror genre without the usual jump scares, which makes them more accessible and enables for extra layers to be added. This includes a great insight into myths rooted in the local landscape that audiences in the west haven’t been exposed to before. There are great performances from the entire cast in all the stories and inventive moments like one section of a story being told through puppets. Overall, Pett Kata Shaw is one of the finest south Asian films of this year and sets up talented writer-director Nuhash Humayun for a huge career ahead.