Tumbbad Director: Rahi Anil Barve Cast: Sohum Shah Rating: 3/5 ADVERTISEMENT Part morbid-fantasy, mostly magic-realism — hardly a mainstream genre — this is the sort of "festival" film that employs movie-horror as a way to draw you in, first. Since there are no creaking doors, and much less info on what's in store — fewer dialogues, and hardly any reference points for the characters before us — it takes a while to get used to this imaginary world. How much time? Well, that depends on how patient you are as a lay (or lazy) audience.
But, essentially, with some seriously effective, exquisite production design — simultaneously traversing dark, empty well/cave; and vast, rain-soaked Maharashtrian rocky terrains (never so strikingly filmed since Avinash Arun's Marathi masterpiece, Killa) — the film further juxtaposes legend/mythology, with a legit period drama. The folklore relates to the Goddess of Plenty, who held the Earth in her womb. Her first-born, Hastar, turned out to be a greedy pig, cornering all the world's wealth; or gold, as it were.
While his mother saved him from the resultant wrath — even death as punishment — he was cursed to never have a temple under his name. Tumbbad, a village of humans, defied that curse. As a period piece, this film is chapterised into three time-lines, from early 1900s, down to mid-century — basically capturing the transition from British imperialism, rural-urban feudalism, to Indian Independence — while the central chara.