Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
‘South Delhi meets the Exorcist…,’ reads the text in a bright yellow bubble on the cover of the Indian horror fiction novel ‘Batshit’ by Kritika Kapoor, which safe to say – raises high expectations from horror enthusiasts like me. The South Delhi part is true, the Exorcist bit? Not really.
The story follows Pia Bhandari, a young woman with body issues, mommy issues, and severe mental health issues—all of which are worsened by a demon issue. She is dating a hot guy named Raghav who won’t propose, constantly monitored by her overbearing mom, Neeta; over-medicated by her psychiatrist; and outplayed by her younger sister, who is set to marry her childhood sweetheart, all of which unleashes the dormant monster inside Pia. But whether it’s all in her head or a demon really resides inside Pia’s body—a demon that craves blood and death—is kept under wraps until the last few chapters.
‘Batshit’ is a novella-sized book, so I thought I’d probably be able to binge-read it quickly, but it took me 5 days to finish, because the horror aspect of the story is tame. The first half of the novel focuses on Pia navigating her insecurities, while another voice whispers her to do stuff she shouldn’t. A lot of drama goes down during the wedding celebrations of her sister Khushi, which just cemented my dislike for the protagonist – Pia nearly ruins her sister’s big day. Unfortunately, nobody in the novel is likable, so I don’t know why the author just didn’t go all out with the demonic stuff early on in the story. Much of what Pia does in the first half doesn’t feel “batshit crazy”; rather, they’re just slightly unusual actions that someone with regular issues might take.
This is a slow-burn horror that never feels spooky or eerie; however, it does a great job of painting the dysfunctional relationship between Pia and her mother, Neeta. A flashback chapter describes Pia’s “evil” origin story—an incident that takes place when she is thirteen—which wasn’t an exciting enough revelation. Much of the novel unfolds as if it were envisioned as a Bollywood script, with several movie references finding their way into the book. Honestly, I don’t know if I’d be interested in watching a live-action adaptation of this novel, at least not in its current state—where the scares are thin.
The climactic pages finally deliver some blood, gore, deaths, and wraps up the story in a tragic end. While it’s not the horror novel I was expecting, it’s simple language, largely chronological storytelling, and limited characters make it an easy read for Indian horror fans.
Rating: 3 on 5 stars.
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