Aahat
Aahat (English: An approaching sound) is an Indian thriller/horror television anthology series created by B. P. Singh for Sony Entertainment Television.[1] The series premiered on 5 October 1995. One of the episodes of the first season, Abhinetri, telecast in 1998, generated a very high TRP for the show. The episodes of first, second and fifth seasons were half-hourly, while episodes of third, fourth and sixth seasons were one-hourly. Om Puri, Mandira Bedi, Tom Alter, Ashutosh Rana, Shivaji Satam, Virendra Saxena Nivaan Sen and noted theater personality Satyadev Dubey have starred in the show. Canadian actor, Remi Kaler also worked in the series in 1999 and 2000. The sixth season premiered on 18 February 2015, starring Shakti Anand[2] and ended on 4 August 2015.[3]
| Aahat | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Horror Supernatural |
| Created by | B. P. Singh |
| Written by |
|
| Directed by |
|
| Creative director | Christabelle D'Souza |
| Starring | See below |
| Composer | Raju singh |
| Country of origin | India |
| Original language | Hindi |
| No. of seasons | 6 |
| No. of episodes | 556 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
|
| Producers | B. P. Singh Pradeep Uppoor |
| Production locations | Mumbai, India |
| Cinematography |
|
| Editor | Gaurav Meshram |
| Running time | 42 minutes approximately |
| Production companies |
|
| Distributor | Sony Pictures Networks |
| Release | |
| Original network | Sony Entertainment Television |
| Picture format | |
| Original release | 5 October 1995 – 4 August 2015 |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Plot
The first season was mostly a crime thriller-whodunit with only occasional episodes on the supernatural. After the first season, each story focused on a different aspect of paranormal activity, such as ghosts, zombies, phantoms, undead persons, possessed objects and witches and wizards.[2]
Series overview
| Series | Episodes | Originally aired | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First aired | Last aired | ||||
| 1 | 287 | 5 October 1995 | 6 April 2001 | ||
| 2 | 28 | 19 November 2004[4] | 10 June 2005 | ||
| 3 | 21 | 13 January 2007[5] | 16 June 2007 | ||
| 4 | 66 | 13 November 2009 | 26 June 2010 | ||
| 5 | 80 | 28 June 2010 | 25 November 2010 | ||
| 6 | 76 | 18 February 2015[2] | 4 August 2015[3] | ||
Season 1 (1995–2001)
Aahat was first shot in 1994 as a suspense thriller, and began broadcast on 5 October 1995, each story being split across two episodes. The season aired on Thursday nights, later shifting to every Friday nights. After about 40 episodes with the same theme, one episode with a supernatural theme was made and when audiences for the series rose sharply, it made the switch.[6]
Season 2 (2004–2005)
Due to the popularity of the first season, Sony TV decided to bring back the series in its second season. The second season aired on Friday nights. The episode format was same as of the first season. This time the season failed to gain TRP ratings.[7]
Season 3 (2007)
The third season was titled as Aahat: Dahshat Ki Teesri Dastak (English: An approaching sound: The Third Coming of Horror). The season aired on Saturday nights, each story being shown in a single episode. This time too the season didn't manage to gain TRP ratings and the season was shut down soon.[5]
Season 4 (2009–2010)
The fourth season was titled Aahat: The All New Series, which aired on every Friday and Saturday nights. In the season, Durjan, head of Paranormal And Supernatural Activities Research who used to collect powers from the spirits for his boss sends Harsh (Chaitanya Choudhury), Raghav (Vishal Gandhi) and Yamini (Krystle D'Souza) to deal with a new supernatural power every week with the story being split into two episodes. The season had three crossover episodes with the series CID. Once in November 2009, second time in February 2010 and third time in June 2010.
Season 5 (2010)
Due to the huge popularity of the fourth season, Sony TV decided to telecast the series four days a week. The fifth season aired on every Monday to Thursday nights. Every week, two stories were telecast, each story being split across two episodes. But this idea didn't take off; the TRP ratings dropped once again and the channel had to shut down the series on 25 November 2010.
To celebrate 15 years of the series, this season featured a 16 - episode arc titled "Maut Ka Khel" (English: "The Game of Death") which aired starting 20 September 2010. This was heavily inspired by the 1999 Hollywood horror film House On Haunted Hill. The storyline follows celebrities (Sidharth Shukla, Roshni Chopra, Aashka Goradia, Vivan Bhatena, Gautam Rode, Ketki Dave, Tanaaz Irani, Bakhtiyaar Irani, Aryan Vaid, Bobby Darling, Karishma Tanna, Sanjeet Bedi and Shahbaz Khan) who lived in a 200-year-old haunted house.[8]
Season 6 (2015)
The first episode of the sixth installation of the series premiered on 18 February 2015.[2] Initially, the series was aired bi-weekly on every Wednesday and Thursday nights. The first episode of the series had gained a TRP rating of 2.9. Due to high ratings, the channel decided to telecast the season four days on every Monday to Thursday nights. But after a couple of weeks, the TRP ratings dropped, and the channel had to shut down the season on 4 August 2015.[3][9]
Reception
Critical response
The first five seasons of the series received general acclaim but response for the sixth season was quite mixed. Vineeta Kumar of India TV stated, "As against everybody's expectations, Aahat (season 6) doesn't seem that impressive."[10]
Sweta Kaushal of Hindustan Times stated, "The new episode of Aahat (season 6) does not scare at all and lives up to all the comic cliches that Indian horror shows have been following till date. At best, it is hilarious."[11]
Ratings
Vineeta Kumar of India TV gave the sixth season 2/5 stars, and further stated, "For all those who would be expecting grand with the elements of horror and spook in it, Aahat has come with a slight disappointment."[10]
Sweta Kaushal of Hindustan Times giving the same ratings to the sixth season, further stated, "The new episode shows women with bad make-up as the ghosts."[11]
Awards
Fireworks Productions was nominated for Best Continuing TV Programme and for Best Thriller/Horror Show Of The Year of Indian Telly Awards in 2002. Sujit Pattnaik and Tanmoy Ghosh won Indian Television Academy Awards for Best Visual Effects in 2010,[12] while Himanshu, Yogen and Kamal were nominated for the same category of the same award in 2005 and 2012, however, winning in 2011.[13]
International broadcasting
In Pakistan, it was aired on A-Plus Entertainment.
References
- "Hello darkness, my old friend..." Indian Express. 3 November 1997. Archived from the original on 2014-01-12.
- "Sony's rebooted 'Aahat' to go on air from 18 February". Indian Television. Retrieved 16 February 2015.
- "Aahat' to go off air in August?". The Times of India. Retrieved 13 July 2015.
- "SET to premiere 'Aahat 2' on 19 November". Indian Television. Retrieved 16 November 2004.
- "The all new "Aahat" on Sony Saturday 10 pm". The Hindu. Retrieved 8 January 2007.
- "I have made mistakes". Indian Express. 18 December 1998.
- "Exit 'Idol', enter refurbished, reslotted SET". Indian Television. Retrieved 1 March 2005.
- World, Republic. "Bigg Boss 13's contestant Sidharth Shukla turns 39 tomorrow; here is all you should know". Republic World. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
- "Sony TV's 'Aahat' to go biweekly again". The Times of India. 15 June 2015. Retrieved 17 June 2015.
- Vineeta Kumar (19 February 2015). "Aahat season 6: No worries, watch it with your 4 year old kid". India TV. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
- Sweta Kaushal (19 February 2015). "Aahat is back but will it scare you?". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
- "The Indian Television Academy Awards for 2010". Indian Television Academy. Archived from the original on 26 May 2012.
- "The Indian Television Academy Awards for 2011". Indian Television Academy. Archived from the original on 26 May 2012.