Horror Movie Review: Tumbbad (2018)

Tumbbad is a 2018 Hindi-language dark fantasy period horror film directed by Rahi Anil Barve. Additionally, Anand Gandhi served as the creative director, and Adesh Prasad served as the co-director.

In 1947, Vinayak Rao tells his 14-year-old son Pandurang about the Goddess of Prosperity. She is the symbol of unlimited gold and grain 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. They built 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. Vinayak insists on finding the treasure that is rumoured to be hidden somewhere in the mansion. Sadashiv gets mortally wounded 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…

What horrors await him upon his return? Can his greed ever be satisfied? Watch and find out.

Tumbbad is a classic moral tale of greed. A tale that easily transcends culture and time period. In that way, the basis of the story isn’t mind-blowing it’s executed and told in an extremely solid and effective way.

The cinematography is absolutely beautiful, with well positioned shots. The soundtrack is fantastic, I really enjoyed the Bollywood style songs that followed on with the plot. The acting throughout is top notch, especially the young actors.

The stand out however, is Shah (Vinayak) who plays his role to perfection. I enjoyed the fact they kept it simple, without delving too deeply into his false motivations. He simply was just full of absolute greed and nothing could sate him. A pointless endeavour he became addicted to after growing up in poverty. It’s impossible not to feel sympathy for the tragic nature of his story. And almost awe in his dedication to blind greed to the very end.

The effects were a mixed bag. Grandma looked awesome, very reminiscent of a deadite. Also, the womb set looked great. But I wasn’t much of a fan of Hastar because he was very obviously computer generated. I’m a practical effects person, I like it to feel authentic. Unfortunately, I feel this let it down a bit as I struggled to find them very frightening.

Overall, Tumbbad is an excellent tale of pure greed and the moral implications of living that life. A film that took many years to put together and well worth it, I say. If only they had brought Hastar to life more and tied up a couple of the subplots, then it would have been perfect.