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| Tumbbad poster |
- Brian Mendonca
Tumbbad (2018) directed by Rahi Anil Barve is a film that defies imagination. The plot line is sparse but the journey to realise it is phenomenal.
Couched in myth and a curse therein, the movie invokes the disruptive actions of the gods and goddesses and their cataclysmic consequences.
Tumbbad is a village in Maharashtra not far from Pune. The story was written by Anil when he was 18 years but it came to life on film much later. He was inspired by a Narayan Dharap who wrote horror stories in Marathi.
The minimalist shooting, the predominant darkness of the sets, and the tight camera spaces suggest a descent into a dark world, devoid of morality. It is in a liminal space between the here and hereafter. Fires in the distance, darkness all around, a river flowing silently in front of terrified characters - this is what makes Tumbbad what it is. It is elemental. And realistic. 70% of the film is shot in actual rain.
The film tries to answer Tolstoy's question 'How much land does a man need?' Interestingly, the central character Vinayak tries to mentor his son to follow his footsteps. The son tries to be even more ambitious than his father.
The role is played well by the young boy who is coming of age. The script is powerful. In the steps scene when he addresses his father's keep, she laughs at him and chides him saying, 'How old are you?' To which he replies, 'What difference does it make to you?'
I watched the movie on YouTube and enjoyed some of the dialogues in Marathi, with subtitles in Hindi. However, on Prime Video the movie was dubbed in Hindi, erasing the linguistic identity of Marathi. It seemed hugely incongruous to see the cast in traditional peshwa outfits of the early 1920's mumble shudh Hindi.
This detracts from the character of the film, its local flavour, and its idiomatic usages. Universalising it as a 'pan-Indian' experience to push the box office is questionable - but what happens with most regional films that make it big like Pushpa (2021). Put it down to what a critic called 'the Bollywood bastardization of region-specific stories.'
The sweep of the film in three parts from the 1920s to 1947 and after, shows how things change from the British raj to the imperatives of an independent India. They also depict three phases of Vinayak's life.
The soundtrack of Tumbbad by Danish arranger Jesper Kyd is pulsating and feverish. It strikes me as very Western with few or no Indian or folk music instruments which Maharashtra is known for. But it works. Perhaps it was intended for a Western audience since it debuted abroad.
What is a spoiler is that the film is marketed as a 'Horror' film. It is much more than that. Blending folklore, historical fiction, myth and mendacity, it questions our versions of ourselves. We see ourselves as Vinayak unafraid of the limits of human existence.
Like Gangs of the Godavari (2024) Tumbbad too is a) shot near a river b) is propelled by an ancient curse and c) uses myth to depict violence.
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Viewed on 26 August 2025. Poster courtesy Eros International.
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