''Tumbbad'' is a 2018 Indian/Swedish Hindi-language
period
Period may refer to:
Common uses
* Era, a length or span of time
* Full stop (or period), a punctuation mark
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Period (music), a concept in musical composition
* Periodic sentence (or rhetorical period), a concept ...
horror film
Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes.
Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...
film directed by
Rahi Anil Barve
''Tumbbad'' is a 2018 Indian/Swedish Hindi-language Period drama, period horror film film directed by Rahi Anil Barve. Additionally, Anand Gandhi served as the creative director, and Adesh Prasad served as the co-director. Written by Mitesh Sha ...
.
Additionally,
Anand Gandhi
Anand Gandhi (born Anand Modi, 26 September 1980) is an Indian filmmaker, entrepreneur, media producer, innovator and systems researcher. He is also the founder/CEO of the Mumbai-based new media studio and systems think tank Memesys Culture Lab ...
served as the creative director,
and Adesh Prasad served as the co-director.
Written by Mitesh Shah, Prasad, Barve, and Gandhi,
the film was produced by
Sohum Shah,
Aanand L. Rai
Aanand L. Rai (born 28 June 1971) is a Hindi film director and producer known for romantic-comedy movies ''Tanu Weds Manu'' (2011), ''Raanjhanaa'' (2013), ''Tanu Weds Manu: Returns'' (2015), '' Zero (2018 film), Zero ''(2018), '' Atrangi Re '' ...
, Mukesh Shah and Amita Shah. Starring Sohum Shah in the lead role as Vinayak Rao, it follows the story of his search for a hidden treasure in the 20th century
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
village of
Tumbbad, Maharashtra.
Barve began writing the script based on a story a friend had told him about in 1993, by
Marathi writer
Marathi literature is the body of literature of Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language spoken mainly in the Indian state of Maharashtra and written in the Devanagari and Modi script.
History Ancient Era
Maharashtri Prakrit was the southern Prakrit th ...
Narayan Dharap. He wrote the first draft in 1997, when he was 18 years old. From 2009 to 2010, he created a 700-page storyboard for the film. It was optioned by seven production companies who backed out and went on the floor (went into production) three times. It was first shot in 2012 but after editing, Barve and Shah were not satisfied. The film was then re-written and re-shot with filming completed in May 2015. Pankaj Kumar served as the
director of photography
The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the photographing or recording of a film, television production, music video or other live action piece. The cinematographer is the ch ...
while Sanyukta Kaza was its editor.
Jesper Kyd
Jesper Kyd Jakobson (; born 3 February 1972) is a Danish composer and sound designer who has worked on various video game, television, and film projects. He has composed soundtracks for the ''Hitman'' series, ''Assassin's Creed'' series, '' Bord ...
composed the original score while
Ajay–Atul
Ajay-Atul is an Indian music composer duo comprising brothers Ajay and Atul Gogavale. They won the Best Music Direction award at the 56th National Film Awards from the Government of India for their music in the Marathi film ''Jogwa'' in 2008. ...
composed one song.
''Tumbbad'' premiered in the critics' week section of the
75th Venice International Film Festival—the first Indian film to be screened there. It was also screened at: the 2018
Fantastic Fest
Fantastic Fest is an annual film festival in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 2005 by Tim League of Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, Alamo Drafthouse, Harry Knowles of Ain't It Cool News, Paul Alvarado-Dykstra, and Tim McCanlies, writer of ''The Iron Gi ...
,
Sitges Film Festival, the
Scream fest Horror Film Festival, the
El Gouna Film Festival The El Gouna Film Festival (GFF; ar, مهرجان الجونة السينمائي) is an annual film festival established in 2017, held in the Red Sea resort town of El Gouna, Egypt. The inaugural festival started September 22, 2017. The psychologi ...
, 23rd
International Film Festival of Kerala
The International Film Festival of Kerala (abbreviated as IFFK) is a film festival held annually in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city of Kerala, India. This film festival started in 1996 and is hosted by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy ...
, Morbido Film Fest,
Brooklyn Horror Film Festival
Brooklyn Horror Film Festival is an annual film festival in Brooklyn, New York. It was founded in 2016.
With the 2020 edition of the festival cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, it was one of the partners in the Nightstre ...
and Nitte International Film Festival. It was released on 12 October 2018 to mostly positive reviews with critics praising the visuals. Made on a production budget of , the film grossed a total of at the box office, making it a profitable venture. ''Tumbbad'' received eight nominations at the
64th Filmfare Awards
The 64th Filmfare Awards ceremony, presented by The Times Group, honored the best Indian Hindi-language films of 2018. The ceremony was held on 23 March 2019 in Mumbai.
''Padmaavat'' led the ceremony with 18 nominations, followed by ''Raazi'' ...
winning three for
Best Cinematography,
Best Art Direction and
Best Sound Design.
Plot
In 1947, Vinayak Rao tells his 14-year-old son Pandurang about the Goddess of Prosperity. She is the symbol of unlimited gold (wealth) and grain (food) and the earth is her womb. When the universe was created, she gave birth to 190 million gods. Hastar, her first and most beloved offspring, was greedy for all her gold and food. Hastar managed to acquire the gold from the goddess but the other gods attacked him just as he was about to acquire her food. Then, the goddess saved him on the condition that he could never be worshipped and would be forgotten by history. For years, Hastar slumbered inside his mother's womb. However, the residents of
Tumbbad
''Tumbbad'' is a 2018 Indian/Swedish Hindi-language period horror film film directed by Rahi Anil Barve. Additionally, Anand Gandhi served as the creative director, and Adesh Prasad served as the co-director. Written by Mitesh Shah, Prasad, B ...
, where Hastar has been trapped in his mother's womb, defy this ancient taboo and build a temple dedicated to Hastar. This earns the ire of the gods and they curse the village, causing an incessant downpour of rain over it.
In 1918, in Tumbbad, Vinayak's mother and the mistress of the local lord (addressed as ''Sarkar'') meet him at his mansion. This includes offering him sexual services in the hope of acquiring a single gold coin kept with the Hastar idol. Meanwhile, at their home, Vinayak and his younger brother Sadashiv worry about having to feed the monstrous old woman, Sarkar's ancestor, chained up in a separate room. The Sarkar later dies, and the mother proposes leaving Tumbbad for
Pune
Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...
. Vinayak insists on finding the treasure that is rumoured to be hidden somewhere in the mansion. Sadashiv gets badly hurt after falling from a tree, forcing his mother to take him for help. She tells Vinayak he will have to feed his grandmother that night. She also warns him that if the old woman wakes up, he should invoke the name of "Hastar" to make her sleep. Meanwhile, Sadashiv dies on the way to the doctor.
The mother directs her carriage driver to Sarkar's mansion where she retrieves the gold coin. As Vinayak tries to feed her, the monstrous and hungry old woman attacks and shackles him to eat him. Vinayak invokes Hastar's name, causing her to fall into slumber. His mother returns, and the next day she and Vinayak leave Tumbbad for Pune. She forces Vinayak to promise never to return to Tumbbad, despite his protests to stay and search for the treasure.
Fifteen years pass and Vinayak grows up. Desperate to escape his life of poverty, Vinayak returns to Tumbbad. The old woman, with now a tree growing out of her body, warns him he will be cursed to become immortal and turned into a monster like her if he touches the treasure i.e. Hastar. She explains that a well leads to the goddess' womb where Hastar dwells, in exchange for ending her prolonged suffering. Vinayak keeps his promise and sets her on fire, thus killing her. Although Hastar stole the goddess's gold, he was unable to acquire her grain. Therefore, being hungry for years, he desires flour. Vinayak physically trains himself to climb up and down a long rope and makes dolls out of dough to lure Hastar inside the goddess's womb. While he is distracted by the food, Vinayak swipes at Hastar's loincloth containing the gold. Vinayak regularly repeats the procedure to steal dropped coins. He offers his first gold coin to the opium merchant Raghav to pay off a debt. Each time he needs more money, Vinayak returns to Tumbbad to steal from Hastar.
Raghav openly wonders about the treasure rumoured to exist in the Tumbbad mansion while also questioning why Vinayak can only retrieve a few coins at a time. Vinayak and his wife give birth to their son Pandurang. When Sergeant Cooper gives him only two days to come through with the money, Raghav sells his widowed daughter-in-law to Vinayak as a mistress, who tells Vinayak of Raghav's plans to visit Tumbbad to help himself to the treasure in exchange for money. Vinayak is then shown following Raghav to the Tumbbad mansion where he tricks him into descending into the goddess' womb where Hastar viciously attacks Raghav and turns him into a monster, conjoining him into the walls of the womb. Vinayak burns Raghav alive to end his suffering.
In 1947, Vinayak takes Pandurang to the mansion to train him for the same purpose and is told not to bring the dough doll down. But he secretly brings a dough doll and Hastar unexpectedly attacks. They barely manage to escape and Vinayak chides his son for nearly getting them touched. Pandurang suggests stealing Hastar's loincloth and they make dozens of dough dolls to distract Hastar. However, the two of them become trapped inside the womb when multiple clones of Hastar appear, one for each doll they possess. With no hope of escaping, Vinayak ties the dolls to his body to act as bait, to allow his son to return safely. Once the coast is clear, Pandurang climbs back to the surface to see his father being mutated into a monster outside the well. Vinayak presents him with the stolen loincloth that he stole from Hastar, but Pandurang refuses to take it. Sobbing at seeing what his father turned into, Pandurang reluctantly sets Vinayak on fire and leaves.
Cast
*
Sohum Shah as Vinayak Rao
* Jyoti Malshe as Vinayak's mother
* Dhundiraj Prabhakar Jogalekar as young Vinayak
* Rudra Soni as Sadashiv
* Madhav Hari Joshi as Sarkar
* Piyush Kaushik as Grandmother
*
Anita Date-Kelkar
Anita Date-Kelkar is an Indian actress. She works predominantly in Marathi and Hindi television. She known for her performance in Mazhya Navryachi Bayko as Radhika.
Early life
Anita was born on 31 October 1980 in Nashik, Maharashtra. She did ...
as Vaidehi; Vinayak's wife
* Deepak Damle as Raghav
* Cameron Anderson as Sergeant Cooper
*
Ronjini Chakraborty
Ronjini Chakraborty (born 24 February 1992) is an Indian actress and model. She has established her career in Hindi and Bengali films.
Personal life
Ronjini was born in a middle-class Bengali family on 8 December 1992 in Kolkata. She has been tr ...
as Vinayak's mistress
*
Mohammad Samad
Mohammad Samad (born 7 May 2000) is an Indian actor, known for movies like ''Gattu (2012),'' ''Haraamkhor (2015)'', ''Tumbbad (2018),'' ''And Chhichhore (2019). He played the lead role of Manju Kumar in the Netflix web series Selection Day (201 ...
as Pandurang
Production
Development
Director Rahi Anil Barve said the title is derived from
Shripad Narayan Pendse
Shripad Narayan Pendse (5 January 1913 – 23 March 2007) was a Marathi writer.
Biography
Shripad Narayan Pendse hailed from Maharashtra, India. He was born to a village Murdi, from Taluka Dapoli in Ratnagiri District.
His novel, ''Ra ...
's
Marathi novel ''Tumbadche Khot''.
He wrote the first draft in 1997, when he was 18 years old. From 2009 to 2010, he created a 700-page storyboard within eight months, which he said was the "anchor on which everything was based."
Barve wrote the script based on a story his friend had told when they were in the
Nagzira
Nagzira Wildlife Sanctuary is located between Bhandara-Gondia district of Maharashtra. The closest National Highway is NH-53. Nagzira Wildlife Sanctuary is locked in the arms of nature and adorned with a picturesque landscape, luxuriant vegeta ...
wildlife sanctuary in 1993 "which made him crap his pants."
It was a story by Marathi writer
Narayan Dharap. Years later, when he revisited Dharap's story, he found it "utterly bland, mundane and forgettable."
[ He realised "it was my friend's narration... that left an indelible print- no, scar on my psyche" which "kept the story alive."][ Barve took the story's basic premise about a scheming moneylender and another of his works, about a girl left alone with her grandmother who is possessed by a demon, and began writing a screenplay.] He managed to find a producer, but they backed out in 2008. He obtained financing and principal photography began in the monsoon of 2012.
Sohum Shah was cast in the role of Vinayak Rao, for which he gained . Since the production took six years, he maintained his character's look for the entire period. Shah said that he was surprised after hearing the story for the time because he "hadn't seen anything like this in Indian cinema." He found it similar to '' Vikram Baital'' and '' Panchatantra''. Barve said the story's main theme was greed, and that the first half hour of the film is in the "universe of Dharap's stories." The film shows Hastar who, according to mythology stated in the movie, was banished to the womb of the mother goddess for being greedy for food and gold. The film is divided in three chapters which Barve said was also a metaphor for the "journey of India, as we see it today." It had gone on the floor three times and was optioned by seven production companies who backed out. Barve feels this was because he had "no frame of reference for them, nothing like ''Tumbbad'' had even been tried before." Shah worked on his Marathi diction and accent since the character of Vinayak was a Marathi. Anand Gandhi
Anand Gandhi (born Anand Modi, 26 September 1980) is an Indian filmmaker, entrepreneur, media producer, innovator and systems researcher. He is also the founder/CEO of the Mumbai-based new media studio and systems think tank Memesys Culture Lab ...
served as the co-writer, creative director and executive producer. Barve's initial idea was to tell three different stories of Tumbbad village in the film; Gandhi and Mitesh turned it into one person's story. The myth of Hastar was the last addition to the story to serve as a backstory. The screenplay was written by Barve, Prasad, Gandhi and Mitesh Shah.
Filming and post-production
''Tumbbad'' first went into production in 2008 with Nawazuddin Siddiqui
Nawazuddin Siddiqui (; born 19 May 1974) is an Indian actor known for his work in Hindi cinema. He is an alumnus of the National School of Drama. Siddiqui's feature film debut was alongside director Prashant Bhargava in ''Patang'' (2012). He ga ...
in the lead role but was quickly shelved as the producer backed out. It was then shot in 2012 after Shah and Gandhi came on board. The film has minimal dialogue and was shot with constant physical movement with few cuts. Barve said, "we shot in the rain at age-old locations, where no human had ventured for at least a hundred years. For me, ''Tumbbad''s locations, the feel of its stuffy air, and the lonely rainy atmosphere that defies the feeling of time's passage is as central as its characters." After the editing, Barve and Shah realised the film was "not able to achieve what it set out to do." It was then re-written and re-shot and the filming completed in May 2015.[ The ]Mutha River
The Mutha River is a river in western Maharashtra, India. It arises in the Western Ghats and flows eastward until it merges with the Mula River in the city of Pune. It has been dammed twice, first at the Panshet Dam (on the Ambi River), us ...
in the Onkareshwar area was taken as a reference for the set creation. In three weeks, the set of the small town around the temple was recreated. A doppelganger set of an old Pune city was created for the film. Sohum Shah wore the typical attire worn by Konkanasth Brahmans in Maharashtra. It was shot in natural light. Some scenes were also shot in Mahabaleshwar
Mahabaleshwar () is a small town and a municipal council in Satara district, Maharashtra, India. It is a place of pilgrimage for Hindus because Krishna river has its origin here. The British colonial rulers developed the town as a hill station ...
and the Tumbbad village. The visual effects were produced by Sean Wheelan's team at Filmgate Films, who were also the co-producers. Pankaj Kumar served as the director of photography and Sanyukta Kaza edited the film. Kumar had shot Barve's short film ''Manjha'' in 2006 and learned of ''Tumbbad''s story from Barve.
Barve created a story book for reference. Kumar called the filming process "long, strong and intense." It was decided the film's look would be "moody and gloomy"; the village had to look timeless "without a clear demarcation between day and night." The shooting was done without any sunlight on Red Camera
Red Digital Cinema (''Red Digital Cinema Camera Company'') is an American company that manufactures professional digital cinematography cameras and accessories.
The company's headquarters is in Foothill Ranch, California, with studios in Holly ...
in digital format. Kumar said that the film's entire shooting schedule revolved around lighting, noting the constant rain and grey tone gave a "constant sense of gloom and dread." He wanted the film to be shot only during the monsoon with its constant rain as he wanted a feeling of "wetness at all times": "We wanted the audience to feel drenched when they came out of the theatres." However, due to a shortage of rainfall that year, Kumar did not get sufficient rain. The crew used artificial rain for the scenes and had to wait for hours for cloud cover. ''Tumbbad'' was shot in several locations across Maharashtra including Saswad
Saswad is a municipal council located on South-Eastern corridor of Pune district of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Saswad is situated on the banks of the Karha River. Saswad is about 31 km from Pune-Central Station.
History
Saswad is a ...
and villages of the Satara district
Satara district (Marathi pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, aːt̪aɾaː is a Districts of Maharashtra, district of Maharashtra state in western India with an area of and a population of 3,003,741 of which 14.17% were urban (). Satara (city), ...
. Some scenes were shot on constructed sets in Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
, including the womb sequence. Kumar said that the team did extensive recce
Recce may refer to:
* Reconnaissance, military scouting
* SEAL Recon Rifle, a rifle used by US Navy SEALs also called the ''Recce Rifle''
* Recce (filmmaking), a pre-shoot reconnaissance of a film location
* South African Special Forces Brigade ...
for a few years as they were looking for "large landscapes without modern infringements, without towers and structures." They also did not have the budget for the visual effects to erase the contemporary architectural elements.
The film had four colour schemes including blue, cold grey, red and gold. 50 lanterns and lamps were used for several scenes to avoid modern-day lighting techniques since it was a period film. The scenes inside the womb took 15 to 20 days to shoot without any visual effects. The character of Hastar was created with heavy prosthetic makeup that required six to seven hours to prepare. Shah wore contact lenses throughout the film for the grey eyes. The entire film was shot over 100 to 120 days with four shooting schedules in 2012 and 2015. After the shoot, the team felt that the film was "halfway there" to becoming something that "audiences hadn't seen before." After that the script went through re-writing, some scenes were added, and the story was "enhanced". The sets were rebuilt and the womb was added. The film's production designers were Nitin Zihani Choudhary and Rakesh Yadav. For their research, they used photograph's from the 18th and 19th century during the British Raj
The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent;
*
* it is also called Crown rule in India,
*
*
*
*
or Direct rule in India,
* Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...
. The interiors of the cave were shot at the Purandare Wada near Pune. It was made to look old and "consumed by earth"; the crew spread moss all over the site. An entire market was created at Satara that included several shops, but it was not used very often in the film.
The film's post-production took two-and-a-half years to complete. Kaza had asked Prasad to write the dialogues again after she re-arranged the grandmother's tree scene while editing it. She used the "only usable stable shots and put them in a certain order and then called Adesh and asked him to re-write the dialogues according to the edit." Its initial runtime was close to 200 minutes which was edited to 100 minutes. The film's climax inside the womb was shot with only one source of light—an oil lamp. The film was produced by Film i Väst
Film i Väst (English: "Film in West") is a film company located in Trollhättan, Sweden, nicknamed "Trollywood"), founded in 1992 by the Älvsborg County Council. Lars von Trier used its facilities in his movies, such as ''Dogville'' and ''Mand ...
and Filmgate Films along with Eros International
Eros International Media Ltd (also known as Eros India) is an Indian motion picture production and distribution company, based and originated in Mumbai, India. Founded by Arjun Lulla in 1977, it is one of the leading production and distribut ...
and Aanand L. Rai
Aanand L. Rai (born 28 June 1971) is a Hindi film director and producer known for romantic-comedy movies ''Tanu Weds Manu'' (2011), ''Raanjhanaa'' (2013), ''Tanu Weds Manu: Returns'' (2015), '' Zero (2018 film), Zero ''(2018), '' Atrangi Re '' ...
's Colour Yellow Productions.
Music
''Tumbbad''s title track was composed, arranged and produced by Ajay–Atul
Ajay-Atul is an Indian music composer duo comprising brothers Ajay and Atul Gogavale. They won the Best Music Direction award at the 56th National Film Awards from the Government of India for their music in the Marathi film ''Jogwa'' in 2008. ...
; it was sung in Hindi with lyrics written by Raj Shekhar. It was released on 6 October 2018. The original score was composed by Jesper Kyd
Jesper Kyd Jakobson (; born 3 February 1972) is a Danish composer and sound designer who has worked on various video game, television, and film projects. He has composed soundtracks for the ''Hitman'' series, ''Assassin's Creed'' series, '' Bord ...
. Prasad was sampling music pieces from several composers when he heard the soundtrack "Apocalypse" from the 2006 video game '' Hitman: Blood Money'' composed by Kyd and decided to work with him. Kyd felt the ''Tumbbad'' team wanted the soundtrack to be between a western and an Indian sound.
Prasad sent Kyd a sample of Laxmikant–Pyarelal
Laxmikant–Pyarelal were an Indian composer duo, consisting of Laxmikant Shantaram Patil Kudalkar (1937–1998) and Pyarelal Ramprasad Sharma (born 1940). He is known by the nickname “Pyromaniac” due to his flaming style of music.
Laxmikan ...
's track from ''Ram Lakhan
''Ram Lakhan'' is a 1989 Indian Hindi-language masala film directed by Subhash Ghai and written by Anwar Khan with screenplay by Ram Kelkar. ''Ram Lakhan'' stars an ensemble cast of Raakhee, Jackie Shroff, Anil Kapoor, Dimple Kapadia, Madhuri ...
'' (1989) for reference; Kyd also watched videos of street drummers and '' The Sinful Dwarf'' (1973). Kyd recorded the choir with Bulgarian music called "Descending" which was the first track he wrote for the film. Both Prasad and Kyd used to interact with each other through Skype
Skype () is a proprietary telecommunications application operated by Skype Technologies, a division of Microsoft, best known for VoIP-based videotelephony, videoconferencing and voice calls. It also has instant messaging, file transfer, deb ...
. The score involved live recording with cello
The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...
and violin
The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...
as well as the real sound of crickets
Crickets are orthopteran insects which are related to bush crickets, and, more distantly, to grasshoppers. In older literature, such as Imms,Imms AD, rev. Richards OW & Davies RG (1970) ''A General Textbook of Entomology'' 9th Ed. Methuen 8 ...
. Kyd made three different types of sound for the film's three parts. The album consists of 22 tracks and was released on 10 November 2018.
Release
''Tumbbad'' premiered in the critics' week section of the 75th Venice International Film Festival, becoming the first Indian film to be screened there. It was also screened at: the 2018 Fantastic Fest
Fantastic Fest is an annual film festival in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 2005 by Tim League of Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, Alamo Drafthouse, Harry Knowles of Ain't It Cool News, Paul Alvarado-Dykstra, and Tim McCanlies, writer of ''The Iron Gi ...
, Sitges Film Festival, the Screamfest Horror Film Festival
Screamfest Horror Film Festival is a horror film festival founded by film producers Rachel Belofsky and Ross Martin in August 2001. It runs over ten days during the month of October and is hosted at the TCL Chinese 6 Theatres in Los Angeles, Ca ...
, the El Gouna Film Festival The El Gouna Film Festival (GFF; ar, مهرجان الجونة السينمائي) is an annual film festival established in 2017, held in the Red Sea resort town of El Gouna, Egypt. The inaugural festival started September 22, 2017. The psychologi ...
, 23rd International Film Festival of Kerala
The International Film Festival of Kerala (abbreviated as IFFK) is a film festival held annually in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city of Kerala, India. This film festival started in 1996 and is hosted by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy ...
, Morbido Film Fest, Brooklyn Horror Film Festival
Brooklyn Horror Film Festival is an annual film festival in Brooklyn, New York. It was founded in 2016.
With the 2020 edition of the festival cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, it was one of the partners in the Nightstre ...
and Nitte International Film Festival. Before the film's release, a special screening was held by Aanand L. Rai which was attended by the film's team and several other filmmakers. ''Tumbbad'' was released in India on 12 October 2018 on 575 screens. It is also available on Amazon Prime Video
Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming and Renting, rental service of Amazon (c ...
in Hindi, Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
**Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, nativ ...
and Telugu language
Telugu (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken by Telugu people predominantly living in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, where it is also the official language. It is the most widely spoken member of the Dravidian language fami ...
.
Reception
Critical reception
India
''Tumbbad'' opened to mostly positive critical reviews. On the review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
website Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, it holds an approval rating of 87% based on 23 reviews, with an average rating of 7.67/10.
Rachit Gupta of ''The Times of India
''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...
'' called the film "moody and atmospheric" and said that fans of Hollywood horror films will be reminded of ''Pan's Labyrinth
''Pan's Labyrinth'' ( es, El laberinto del fauno, lit=The Labyrinth of the Faun, links=no) is a 2006 dark fantasy horror film written, directed and co-produced by Guillermo del Toro. A Spanish-Mexican(78% Spanish production, 22% Mexican productio ...
'' (2006) and ''Eraserhead
''Eraserhead'' is a 1977 American surrealist film, surrealist horror film written, directed, produced, and edited by David Lynch. Lynch also created its Eraserhead (soundtrack), score and sound design, which included pieces by a variety of oth ...
'' (1977). Baradwaj Rangan
Baradwaj Rangan is an Indian film critic, writer, and formerly the deputy editor of ''The Hindu''. He later became a senior editor of Film Companion. Rangan won the National Film Award for Best Film Critic in 2006. Before joining ''The Hindu' ...
wrote: "It’s been a while since something genre-based turned out so rich and mysterious, so defiantly its own thing." Raja Sen
Raja Sen (born 10 November 1955) is an Indian film and television director and the winner of three National Film Awards from Kolkata, West Bengal, India. He is the father of actress Rimi Sen.
Career
Raja Sen first received recognition with ''S ...
called the film "an ambitious one, artistic and attentively made, reminding me of the trippy stylings of filmmaker Tarsem Singh
Tarsem Singh Dhandwar (born 26 May 1961), known professionally as Tarsem, is an Indian director who has worked on films, music videos, and commercials. He directed ''The Cell (film), The Cell'' (2000), ''The Fall (2006 film), The Fall'' (2006, ...
." ''The Indian Express
''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split betw ...
''s Shubhra Gupta called it "highly unusual, visually stunning, richly atmospheric concoction of genres and themes."
Sanjukta Sharma of Scroll.in
''Scroll.in'', simply referred to as ''Scroll'', is an Indian digital news publication owned by the Scroll Media Incorporation. It publishes content in both Hindi and English languages. Founded in 2014, the website and its journalists have won ...
felt the film subverts genres "astutely, without any gimmicks": "It has been a while since a horror film spoke so eloquently about something as primal as greed and remained true to its Indian setting." ''Mint
MiNT is Now TOS (MiNT) is a free software alternative operating system kernel for the Atari ST system and its successors. It is a multi-tasking alternative to TOS and MagiC. Together with the free system components fVDI device drivers, XaA ...
''s Udita Jhunjhunwala cited the film as "eerie, imaginatively designed, stunningly filmed and well directed." Anupama Chopra
Anupama Chopra () is an Indian author, journalist, film critic and director of the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival. She is also the founder and editor of the digital platform Film Companion, which offers a curated look at cinema. She has written sev ...
felt the film was nothing like "you have seen before in Hindi cinema", calling it "the most visually stunning film I've seen since ''Padmaavat
''Padmaavat'' is a 2018 Indian period romantic action drama film directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Based on the epic poem of the same name by Malik Muhammad Jayasi, it stars Deepika Padukone as Rani Padmavati, a Rajput queen known for ...
''". Subhash K. Jha praised the visuals and wrote: "If you think cinema is predominantly a visual medium then don't miss ''Tumbbad''". Rediff.com
Rediff.com (stylized as ''rediff.com'') is an Indian news, information, entertainment and shopping web portal. It was founded in 1996. It is headquartered in Mumbai, with offices in Bangalore, New Delhi and New York City.
, it had more than 300 e ...
's Sreehari Nair observed that "our apprehensions are raised lazily and we wait like masochists for the manipulations to arrive, but what we get instead is a single-line moral." Namrata Joshi
Namrata Joshi is an Indian film critic based in New Delhi. Originally working for ''Outlook'', she remained there from 1999 till 2015, when she joined ''The Hindu''. She won the National Film Award for Best Film Critic in 2004
Career
Joshi is ...
gave a positive review and wrote: "The atmosphere, landscape, and themes in ''Tumbbad'' are accentuated by a sense of Gothic dread and an eerie expectancy of the diabolical."
Suparna Sharma of the ''Deccan Chronicle
''Deccan Chronicle'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper founded by Rajagopal Mudaliar in the 1930s & currently owned by Samagrah Commercial Pvt Limited. It is published in Hyderabad, Telangana, by Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited ( ...
'' noted that the film has "the beauty and horror of imagination, and it stalks you gently, long after you’ve left the theatre." Reuters
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world.
The agency was estab ...
' Shilpa Jamkhandikar said that the "true star here is Barve, who takes what could have been a regular horror film and elevates it to another level." Stutee Ghosh of The Quint
''The Quint'' is an English and Hindi language Indian general news and opinion website founded by Raghav Bahl and Ritu Kapur after their exit from Network18. The publication's journalists have won three Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Aw ...
wrote: "It excels is in its ability to weave together a formidable canvas with fear, fantasy and folklore blending in seamlessly to give us an unrelenting ominous journey." Anna M. M. Vetticad
Anna Mercy Mathews Vetticad, commonly known as Anna M. M. Vetticad, is an Indian film critic and journalist. She has been in the field of journalism since 1994. Vetticad has also hosted her own interview show, ''Star Trek'', on Headlines Today ...
wrote: "The joy of watching ''Tumbbad'' comes from the fact that Barve and his co-writers offer no answers, making this a delightfully intriguing film." Rajeev Masand
Rajeev Masand is an Indian film critic and journalist. He has worked for Noida based English language news channel CNN-Indian Broadcasting Network (CNN-IBN). He usually reviews Bollywood films and major Hollywood films released in India in hi ...
called it "a wildly original film with a look and feel that is of the highest standard." Jai Arjun Singh called the film "spooky, majestic and affecting, and these qualities come from the set design, the use of music, and the evocation of a place that is like a breathing thing, corroding the thoughts and actions of the people in it."
Overseas
Lee Marshall of ''Screen International
''Screen International'' is a British film magazine covering the international film business. It is published by Media Business Insight, a British B2B media company.
The magazine is primarily aimed at those involved in the global film business. ...
'' called it an "initially atmospheric yarn let down by weak stock characters and a long veer into fright-free period drama in its over-long middle section". ''The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...
''s Deborah Young called the film "atmospheric, heavy on mythology and scary as hell." J. Hurtado of Screen Anarchy
Screen Anarchy, previously known as Twitch Film or Twitch, is a Canadian English-language website featuring news and reviews of mainly international, independent and cult films. The website was founded in 2004 by Todd Brown. In addition to films, ...
had a positive response and wrote: "A slow burn whose finale is wonderfully unexpected and yet fitting, ''Tumbbad'' is a great film and hopefully the start of a new trend in India." He also included it on his list of 14 Favorite Indian Films of 2018.
Dread Central
Dread Central is an American website founded in 2006 that is dedicated to horror news, interviews, and reviews. It covers horror films, comics, novels, and toys. Dread Central has won the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award for Best Website f ...
's Jonathan Barkan wrote that the film "is more focused on the horror of human behavior than it is on creaking doors and the terror of what lurks in the dark." He also felt that the film's second half was "overly drawn out". Matt Donato of /Film
''/Film'', also spelled ''Slashfilm'', is a blog that covers movie news, reviews, interviews, and trailers. It was founded by Peter Sciretta in August 2005.
Podcasts
Six podcasts have run on the site. ''The /Filmcast'', hosted by David Chen, De ...
wrote: "Mad creature-feature designs, Academy-worthy blends of color and pristine optical packaging, despicable character work meant to provoke heartlessness traded for materialistic grandiosity – ''Tumbbad'' is a full genre package seasoned with a pungent foreign kick." Trace Thurman of Bloody Disgusting
Bloody Disgusting is an American multi-media company, which began as a horror genre-focused news site/website specializing in information services that covered various horror medias, including: film, television, video games, comics, and music. ...
wrote in his review: "With a compelling story of greed that spans more than 30 years, a memorable monster and some truly beautiful cinematography, ''Tumbbad'' is not to be missed." Jacob Trussell of Film School Rejects
Film School Rejects is an American blog devoted to movie reviews, interviews, film industry news, and feature commentary. It was founded by Neil Miller in February 2006.
The site was nominated for Best News Blog by ''Total Film'' magazine and na ...
called the film "Indian folk horror at its finest" that offers "an Indian film about Indian culture, removed of the trappings of the musical and replaced with stories of little known Indian theology."
Box office
''Tumbbad'' was made on a production budget of . It collected in its opening day at the box office. The collection increased after positive word of mouth and the film earned on its second and on its third day, making a total of during the first weekend. At the end of its first week, the film earned a total of , it was followed by in its second week and in its third week. At the end of its nine-week theatrical run, ''Tumbbad'' earned a total of at the box office.
Accolades
Sequel
In November 2018, it was announced that Sohum Shah is working on the film's sequel. It will take place in the Tumbbad village and will feature Hastar.
References
External links
*
* {{Rotten tomatoes, tumbbad
2018 films
2018 horror films
2010s historical horror films
Indian historical horror films
Swedish horror films
2010s Hindi-language films
2010s Swedish-language films
Films set in country houses
Films set in the British Raj
Films set in Maharashtra
Films shot in Maharashtra