General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20264 min read

Inspection Bungalow

Inspection Bungalow (ഇൻസ്പെക്ഷൻ ബംഗ്ലാവ്) is a 2025 Indian Malayalam-language horror-comedy web series directed by Saiju SS and written by Suneesh Varanaad, streaming on ZEE5 and OTTplay Premium from 14 November 2025¹^•². It was promoted as Kerala's first horror-comedy web series³. The story follows a police team forced to move into a reputedly haunted government bungalow in the fictional village of Aravangad⁴.

Key fact	Detail
Format	Malayalam web series, one season of seven episodes of roughly 16 to 27 minutes, all released 14 November 2025⁵
Genre	Horror, comedy, fantasy; rated U/A 16+¹
Crew	Directed by Saiju SS; screenplay by Suneesh Varanaad²
Lead cast	Shabareesh Varma as Sub-Inspector Vishnu Madhav, Aadhya Prasad as paranormal researcher Mythili, Saju Sreedhar as the rationalist officer Parameswaran⁶
Setting	The village of Aravangad, where the police station is shifted to a haunted Forest Inspection Bungalow⁴
Streaming	ZEE5 and OTTplay Premium, with English subtitles⁴
Reception	IMDb rating of 5.1/10 from 85 users; critics gave mixed to negative reviews⁷

Spoilers

Premise and plot

The series is set in Aravangad, a small Kerala village whose police station is in disrepair. Sub-Inspector Vishnu, described in different accounts as a reluctant officer with a troubled past and a devout believer in rituals, is tasked with relocating the station to an abandoned government property known as the Inspection Bungalow, a forest rest house rumored to be haunted and associated with unexplained deaths⁴^•⁸. The Mid-Day review notes that the bungalow's reputation is such that thieves would rather confess to crimes they had not committed than step inside⁹.

Once the team moves in, unsettling events begin. Vishnu seeks help from a godman and from Mythili, a self-proclaimed ghost hunter who carries a device that supposedly detects "paranormal waves"⁸. His colleague Parameswaran, a staunch rationalist, refuses to believe in ghosts, and the two opposing worldviews work toward the same investigation⁹. The plot ties the hauntings to a string of mysterious deaths and a decades-old secret in the village⁴.

The seven episodes, all released on the same day, are titled Haunted Shift, The Ordeal, The Arrival of Mythili, The Breakthrough, The Shadows of the Past, Revelations, and Closing The Case, with runtimes from 16 to 27 minutes⁵.

Cast and characters

Shabareesh Varma, known for the film Premam, plays Sub-Inspector Vishnu Madhav⁶^•¹⁰. Aadhya Prasad plays Mythili, the paranormal researcher. Saju Sreedhar plays Parameswaran, the non-believing officer; Jayan Cherthala plays the local MLA Shaji; Sreejith Ravi plays Issac; Senthil Krishna Rajamani plays Balamurali; and Balaji Sarma plays S.I. Selvaraj⁶. Manohari Joy appears as Vishnu's mother⁶.

Production and release

The series premiered on ZEE5 and OTTplay Premium at 12 am on 14 November 2025, with English subtitles¹¹. Director Saiju SS described the show as an attempt to make fear and fun coexist, saying the series explores how humor can be a way to face darkness³. It followed the Malayalam thriller Kammattam on the platform¹¹.

Reception

Critics were divided on the result. The Moneycontrol review credited the performances and the unusual premise but found the writing inconsistent and the technical work uneven, citing mismatched lighting and color grading and abrupt cuts². The Mid-Day review called the series a nostalgia trip to early-2000s Malayalam horror, with temple priests, white-clad ghosts, and recycled tropes, and judged that it rarely delivered either scares or laughs⁹. The OTTplay review gave it 2.5 out of 5 and argued the horror tropes were dated, though it noted the comedy worked better than the scares and that the script kept sight of its goal¹⁰. The Scroll review found the show stronger on comedy than on the supernatural, with Varma effective in comic scenes⁸. Filmfare rated it 2.5 out of 5, calling it mildly spooky and charming but saying the final act lost clarity¹². On IMDb the series holds a rating of 5.1/10 from 85 users⁷.

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Unscripted, reality, and web-native series › Web-native and streaming-original series › Genre web series: horror, thriller, science fiction, and mystery

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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