Even if you aren’t a horror fan, you’ve definitely heard of It. Originally a 1986 Stephen King novel, It has become a franchise of its own, inspiring a miniseries and movies It (2017) and It Chapter Two (2019) while making Pennywise, played by Bill Skarsgård since 2017, one of the most recognizable and terrifying horror villains of all time. Now, the world of It is expanding with the HBO series It: Welcome to Derry (2025), which serves as a prequel that dives into the fictional town of Derry, Maine and its history with Pennywise.
However, there is one It-related series that even diehard fans probably haven’t seen: the Hindi-language series Woh (1998). Aired on Indian TV station Zee TV, which itself was relatively new at the time, the series shares a lot in common with the beloved King novel and its adaptations. At the same time, it’s wildly different from the It fans have loved to be terrified by for decades.
What Is 'Woh' About? (And Is It Actually An 'It' Remake?)
Like It, Woh starts out following a group of teenagers—Ashutosh, Raja, Julie, Shiva, Ronnie, Sanjeev, and Rahul—from the real Indian town of Panchgani who are confronted with supernatural evil in the form of a child abducting clown known as Woh. Fifteen years later, the group reunites to confront Woh again and protect Panchgani.
Woh is technically an adaptation of Stephen King’s iconic novel, though creators Ankush Mohla and Glen Barreto admitted to not reading the book. Instead, the series is primarily based on the It (1990) miniseries starring Tim Curry as Pennywise, though it’s far from a shot-for-shot remake.
The Biggest Differences Between 'It' And 'Woh'
Though Woh generally lines up with It’s main plot points, to say the creators took some creative liberties would be putting it lightly. Some changes are relatively minor, like the monster appearing every 15 years instead of every 27 years and the iconic sewer scene being changed to the clown luring a child into a swimming pool. But there’s a lot of additional story included over the course of Woh’s 52 episodes with no connection to the original material.
Most notably, the series continues past Woh’s second defeat with an original storyline that delves into the killer clown’s backstory. Woh’s version of Pennywise, played by Indian actor Lilliput, is a little person whose tragic past led him to become a vengeful ghost. Though this provides motivation for his actions, Woh’s backstory undermines the true horror of Pennywise as an unexplainable evil that shapesifts into horrors that represents fear and hatred to child abuse and moral panic. At the same time, it plays into dated ableist tropes that depict those with disabilities as prone to violence.
That’s not to say that Woh’s final arc is bad or marks a significant drop in quality. There are some interesting ideas, but the show really drops any tenuous connections it had to It at this point. Stephen King purists will likely scoff at the show’s lack of fidelity to the original, but if It-inspired horror mixed with a cheesy soap opera sounds fun to you, you’ll probably enjoy Woh.
Where Can You Watch 'Woh' Right Now
Woh can be streamed for free on Plex and YouTube in the United States, making it surprisingly easy to access for an Indian series from the ‘90s. While its low budget shows in the series’ overall production quality, Woh is pretty well made for what it is. The series delivers spooky horror and thrills, from its terrifying clown to some truly unnerving fourth wall breaks.
Fans of campy low budget horror will probably enjoy the series most, but if you’re looking for some deep cut horror or simply intrigued by anything It related, Woh is a unique and fascinating piece of the franchise’s history that’s worth remembering.
