Seat of Horror

Sundays,7pm

Rating: ***

What’s it about?
After reality shows have made the viewers cry,laugh,dance and sing,The Chair makes them quake. Every episode of India’s horror reality show is shot at a haunted location with three daring contestants. In all,there are 39 challengers and 13 episodes shot in as many locations. At the beginning of each episode,Swati,a psychic,first takes a walk through the location to understand the place and study the energies around. Then,the challengers enter the location — one at a time — during twilight. They are given clues to reach the chair. This is placed in the space where the psychic feels the supernatural elements are most active. The contestants who reach there in the least amount of time get to go through the chair session. The psychic,through the hypnosis therapy helps the contestant connect with the energies around.

Who’s in it?
The show is hosted by Meiyang Chang,who rose to popularity with Indian Idol and Badmaash Company. Chang who doesn’t believe in supernatural beings is there to see if they really exist. Swati has an extensive background in being a spiritual healer. Helping the spirits through the medium of the chair excites her the most. The contestants come from varied backgrounds. Each one of them undergo a medical test before entering the premises of the haunted location.

What’s hot?
Paranormal activity is a speculative genre or topic which has created a lot of curiosity since ages. It is the uniqueness of the show that really clicks with the audience. A lot of research has been done on each location and this really comes across during the show. The makers don’t overdo the drama with special effects and jarring background score. It is kept simple with cameras and a mic placed near the chair where the contestant undergoes hypnotherapy to get in touch with the spirits. Chang is a good host,who underplays his part and gives maximum footage to the contestant and the psychic. The psychic seems to be in control of the situations and guides the show pretty well. The show’s purpose is to spook you and the show does it’s job well.

What’s not?
The show gets a little disturbing after a point,with the contestants crying and yelling for help. The show gets even more eerie when the contestant seated on the chair starts describing the spirit present in detail. At the end of the day television is about entertaining,and the show fails to entertain the audiences,rather forces them to switch channels to watch something more fun.

Should you be watching it?
If you are the kind who enjoys paranormal activity,this could be the show you were looking out for. The rest could try it for some novelity.