Netflix's latest India original with ace director Anurag Kashyap is getting trolled

• Netflix’s new anthology, Ghost Stories, was released on New Year’s eve.
  
• Ghost Stories brings four different stories from each director who last created popular series Lust Stories.
  
• Out of all the four stories only Zoya Akhtar's story came out as a winner.
  
• People are disappointed by Anurag Kashyap’s episode which according to them is the “most disgusting and creepiest thing” they have ever seen.
  

Netflix’s Ghost Stories could not replicate the success of a similar franchise - Lust Stories. This is in spite of participation from Bollywood’s big four directors - Zoya Akhtar, Anurag Kashyap, Karan Johar, and Dibakar Banerjee.

These Lust Stories directors were brought back to scare the audience. But they might have ended up scaring them away.

The OTT platform which saw successful thrillers like Typewriter, has angered and annoyed Netflix fans who have resorted to trolling. On the receiving end was Anurag Kashyap’s episode which was disliked the most. According to some, it’s the “most disgusting and creepiest thing they ever saw.”





Twice bitten after Sacred Games 2

This is a bad start for Netflix which saw 4% annual fall in the estimated number of daily active users. India is an important market for the OTT platform which invested nearly ₹3,000 crore in original content. Its grew its revenue by 700% on the back of local content.

This is the second franchise after Sacred Games Season 2 to have left eager fans unimpressed. A day after the second season was released, Twitter was flooded with memes and angry comments.

Netflix has also been dumping tanked Bollywood movies like Drive on the platform which may result in subscriber loss. The failure of Ghost Stories may become a barrier for the stellar growth it was expecting.

“AnuragKashyap is a very fine director and I love his craft. And here also I'm not criticising his story or his direction in #GhostStories. I'm just expressing how disturbing it was for me. In those mere 30 minutes, at several scenes I wanted to take my eyes off the screen,” wrote a user on Twitter.

Kashyap’s story revolves around the bond between a little boy and his pregnant maternal aunt. She is desperately awaits the birth of her child after having suffered a miscarriage in the past. The story tilts towards mental imbalance rather than a ghost story, personifies how crows eat their own eggs in stress. The audience could not digest it.





Zoya Akhtar’s story stands out
The story of a haunted nurse that was directed by 2019’s most successful Zoya Akhtar however received a thumbs up. Not only did she direct the critically and commercially acclaimed Gully Boy but her web series ‘Made in Heaven’ on Amazon Prime was a hit with the audience.

She also brought star power into her story. Janhvi Kapoor plays a nurse Sameera, who is haunted while providing care to an elderly ailing lady (Surekha Sikri). The nurse who has plans to entertain her boyfriend, is haunted by unusual noises.

The segments by Dibakar Banerje and Karan Johar received average reviews. Johar however fell into his old habits as he inducted a wedding scene in a horror film.

All in all, the only ones haunted by the series are Netflix executives who bankrolled it.

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