Tumbbad

Film description

In 1918, in the province of Maharashtra, Vinayak lived with his brother in the sinister Tumbbad estate. Both were illegitimate children of the maid and master of the house. One day Vinayak hears the mysterious name Hastar for the first time and learns about the legend of an extraordinary treasure hidden somewhere in Tumbbad's deep basements. The clever boy helps out his doomed grandmother and thus discovers a way to gain wealth. After the unfortunate death of his brother, Vinayak leaves the run-down estate and returns whenever he needs more gold. Each time he manages to avoid an ominous curse, but cleverness may one day turn against him...

Back in 1997, inspired by one of Narayan Dharap's disturbing short stories, director Rahi Anil Barve already as an 18-year-old wrote the first draft of the "Tumbbad" script. The filmmaker returned to the project two decades later, together with Adesh Prasad and Ananda Gandhi, developing the script and precisely planning the production. Visually breathtaking, shot in authentic locations, "Tumbbad" became the first Indian film opening Venice Critic's Week. The filmmakers brilliantly combined the characteristic elements of Indian cinema with the horror genre conventions. The soundtrack and the main melody of the film becomes an integral part of the narrative, enhancing an atmosphere of anxiety, emphasizing the feverish greed of the characters and dangerous game with fate. The perfectionism is visible from the first frames of "Tumbbad", whose nested narrative structure and cinematic space seem to truly absorb the viewer, leading closer and closer to an ancient mystery.

Maja Korbecka