Name- Siddhi Agarwal

Prn- 1062211279
TY-BBA GMEM

Peace Assignment
Movie Review- Tumbbad

Name of the film

Tumbbad is a 2018 Hindi-language period horror film directed by Rahi Anil Barve. It is a
mythological story about a goddess who created the entire universe. The plot revolves around the
consequences when humans build a temple for her first-born. Anand Gandhi 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, 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 village of Tumbbad, Maharashtra.Barve
began writing the script based on a story a friend had told him about in 1993, by Marathi writer
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
while Sanyukta Kaza was its editor. Jesper Kyd composed the original score while Ajay–Atul
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, Sitges
Film Festival, the Screamfest
Horror Film Festival, the El Gouna Film Festival, 23rd International Film Festival of Kerala,
Morbido Film Fest, Brooklyn Horror Film Festival 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 ₹50 million (US$630,000), the film grossed a total of ₹136 million
(US$1.7 million) at the box office, making it a profitable venture. Tumbbad received eight
nominations at the 64th Filmfare Awards winning three for Best Cinematography, Best Art
Direction and Best Sound Design.
Main Character
It stars Sohum Shah in the lead role as Vinayak Rao. In 1947, Vinayak Rao told 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 160
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, 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.

Theme of the movie

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 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. Sohum Shah was cast in the role of Vinayak Rao, for
which he gained eight kilograms (eighteen pounds). 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.

Social Impact of the Movie

Tumbbad is undoubtedly regarded as one of the most intriguing and alluring masterpieces of
Indian cinema, offering an amalgamation of stunning visuals that send chills down your spine
and a story that stays etched in your minds even years later. Even after five years of its theatrical
release, Tumbbad continues to cast its enchanting charm over the audience. Here are a few
reasons why Tumbbad will stand to be one of the greatest works by Indian cinema. It is a product
of a decade’s passion.The original draft of Tumbbad is dated to 1997, while director Rahi Anil
Barve wrote the idea and finally by 2009-2010, he took eight months to create a storyboard.
It took actor and producer, Sohum Shah six years to make Tumbbad a reality and they faced
many obstacles along the way. Tumbbad was the first Indian film to be screened at the critics’
week section of the 75th Venice International Film Festival, won over the critics, across the
globe with features amongst the most credible international publications like Variety, Hollywood
Reporter, amongst others. It was also screened at the 2018 Fantastic Fest, Sitges Film Festival,
the Screamfest Horror Film Festival, the El Gouna Film Festival, 23rd International Film
Festival of Kerala, Morbido Film Fest, Brooklyn Horror Film Festival and Nitte International
Film Festival.
Tumbbad is one of those rare films to actually dip into Indian mythology and serve a horror film
that caters to the myths, superstitions, and beliefs that are similar to the folk tales we grew up
reading about. While horror films revolve around a hero fighting a paranormal entity, Tumbbad
posed a question of when afflicted by dire circumstances, would you tempt fate for a better
fortune or continue to suffer?While the film didn’t fare exceptionally well at the box office, soon
the horror-thriller emerged to be a cinematic marvel with netizens going gaga over the brilliance
of Tumbbad. Creating a world that captivates one for a lifetime, Tumbbad created an impact that
still doesn’t seem to fade.

Take away from the movie

The ending of Tumbbad reveals that though Vinayak managed to get the loincloth full of gold,
one of the Hastars touched and cursed him. Vinayak offers Pandurang the gold, but Pandurang
sees the horrific consequence of the greed and refuses the gold, much to Vinayak’s joy.
Pandurang finally breaks the cycle of greed and curse, burns his father alive to free him from the
curse, and puts him to sleep by stating, “go to sleep, else Hastar will come”. Had Pandurang
taken the loincloth filled with gold, he would have started a new cycle of gold-lust as no amount
of money would ever be enough. It would have ended with Pandurang paying the price by
eventually being cursed and passing on the greed down his family line. Hastar did not die; he is
guarded by the womb. Hastar’s physical manifestations are shown to emerge for every flour
dough doll that is brought into the womb. So the next time someone shows up with another doll,
there will be another physical manifestation of Hastar. As long as there is greed in the hearts of
humans, Hastar will be alive and well.

Personal Critical Evaluation

The film was based around the 1920’s until after Independence. The setting, the lighting, the
costumes, the dialect, every single thing was religiously perfect. And a huge part of the credit
goes to Anand Gandhi, director of Ship of Theseus, who brought the film together as a Creative
Director. The era that you see is the kind that you can feel as audience. It’s a time machine which
will take you back to the mythological days while also touching concepts that are prevalent to
humanity even today.Hats off to Pankaj Kumar, the cinematographer of the film. Every single
frame and shot in this film is one to watch. You cannot miss out on the beauty of it. It honestly
felt incomplete when the film ended, the shots were a piece of art that you keep wanting to view
more. All establishing shots to the very climax was perfection on a roll. The continuity
connected gorgeously and the storyline was perfectly depicted with the least amount of dialogues
and the most amount of film on the screen.The production for this film had started 6 years back.
Barve wrote the script based on a story his friend had told him in 1993. It was a story by a
Marathi writer Narayan Dharap. Years later, when he revisited Dharap’s story, he found it
“utterly bland, mundane and forgettable”. He said that the story had left an “indelible print, scar
on my psyche” which “kept the story alive”. The film was shot by 2012 and after its editing,
Barve and Shah realised that the film was “not able to achieve what it set out to do”. It was then
re-written and re-shot by Anand Gandhi; the filming completed in May 2015.From Sohum Shah
to Harish Khanna, the portrayal of three generations through three chapters in the film has been
beautifully adopted by each of the actors. Every single performance is one with justice. The
genre that this film follows is a difficult one to acclaim through the art of acting and yet every
single actor has probably outdone their own standards of acting through this film. Tumbbad is a
story that leaves you stunned. It leaves you speechless and gives you a wave of realisation on a
concept that would otherwise seem “mundane”. The topic of greed being a bad omen has always
been around but to portray it the way they did is just a marvel to look at. Not to miss out on how
visually stunning the film is, Bollywood has really stacked up it’s cards in 2018 with the releases
of movies like these.

Personal rating of the film

I would give this movie 4 stars for the sheer attention to detail, intriguing aspect and the fact that
they could keep an entire audience engaged for 2 whole hours over a story based around a myth
and one that ends with a moral lesson.