Khooni Monday And Divay Agarwal Bring The Desi Horror Community Under One Roof

Divay Agarwal is currently building India's biggest horror community. In line with their ambition of bringing together fans of the genre under a roof, the team runs multiple YouTube channels, with the biggest property being Khooni Monday. "In 2018, I wanted to listen to a horror story. There was no organised channel that was doing horror stories. We thought of doing it ourselves and that is how the concept originated. Monday is khooni for everybody who is in school, college or a job. So we decided to call it Khooni Monday and the idea was to come every week and scare people. From Indian to world horror stories, we started telling them all. We captured a lot of stories from haunted places and a lot of subscribers started sending us their horror stories," Divay shared with Republic Media Network on the sidelines of the premiere of Hollywood horror film Backrooms.  

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Asked how they research and deliver trending horror tales, Divay shared, "Some stories like the Spanish legend El Silbón. Very famous in the West. We did a story on it first in India and that really picked up. There was a lot of talk around that legend. Then there was the legend of Kuchisake-Onna. As a content creator I have to plan it in such a way that it incorporates all the popular things. Like labubu dolls and the Serbian dancing lady... They were very popular and viral concepts on the internet and the audience blasted us in the comments to make such videos."

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Many must wonder, how authentic are these horror stories? To this, Divay said, "There are a lot of horror legends that are being published on the internet. Like the Warrens. There are many other paranormal investigators jinhone apne cases bataye huye hai. There are a lot of stories we get through Reddit and our subscribers send us all these stories with photos with people having marks on their bodies and other such gruesome photos. They send us voice notes and the detailing in it shows to me that they are scared. They send the proofs. The authenticity comes from there. The stories are inspired by real events."

About the current run of Hindi horror films and the genre's future in Bollywood, Divay said, "Woh chizein ab shuru ho gayi hai. Horror ke bahut sare sub genres explore kare ja rahe hain abhi. Horror fantasy mein Tumbbad aayi thi. Uski re-release bhi hua and uske around ek cult bana. Then Kantara released, which moved into the horror mythology zone. Shaitaan movie aayi. It's about a cult. Bollywood works on a formula. When the stakes are high, they tend to pick a formula. Some things which have been tested in the market. Jaise Stree aur Munjya bann gayi toh ab sabko horror comedy banana hai. Ek perception ban jata hai ki yeh chal raha hai yeh banate hai. They are seeing that horror is working. The Gen Z audience is relating with horror movies, and stories that break the clutter. Aage bahut sari movies aani hai. Psychology, dread aur in sab subjects pe bahut si filmein aise ban rahi hai jo aap dekhenge. A lot of them will be coming out now."