THE CURSE OF MONEY
The devil is in the visuals in Tumbbad, a dark fairy tale with stylistic flourishes of which Oscar-winning Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro would be proud. The moral of the film—starring and produced by Sohum Shah—is that money can’t buy happiness, and greed is sure to end in tragedy.
Directed by Rahi Anil Barve and co-directed by Adesh Prasad, it’s inspired by the works of Marathi writer Narayan Dharap, and begins with the legend of the goddess Devi and her son Hastar—who is infamous for greed. But in the remote village of Tumbbad lies the only temple where people dare to worship him.
Divided into three chapters, the story unfolds over three generations. The first chapter begins in 1918. An impoverished young woman is mistress to a frail old man with a dilapidated family estate, and caretaker to his cursed mother and mother to his two sons. Bitterness over his illegitimacy festers in the elder one and emerges as greed. A tragedy takes them away from Tumbbad. In chapter two, the son returns as an adult to find a rumoured treasure. Shah plays the fearless and focused golddigger Vinayak Rao, who would rather put his life in jeopardy than hold a job.
With only a handful of jump scares and horrible creatures, Tumbbad is less a conventional horror film than the allegory about a rapacious man, the perils of lust and how not just money but morality is also passed down.
Cinematographer Pankaj Kumar uses the lush environs and cloudy skies to infuse a sense of dread throughout. Child actors Dhundiraj Prabhakar Jogalekar and Mohammed Samad make an impression in the limited screen time they get.
However, the storytelling falters as the focus turns to Vinayak’s vices and affluent lifestyle in sequences that drag on too long. Nevertheless, the visual and aural landscape make Tumbbad compelling viewing.