Tumbbad is a village in Maharashtra where it never stops raining, because the goddess of prosperity’s firstborn, Hastar, is buried there and cursed never to be worshipped. In 1918 a boy named Vinayak learns from his great-grandmother, chained up and monstrous, that there is a treasure. He spends his life taking it, one coin at a time. Tumbbad was the first Indian film to open Venice’s Critics’ Week, and its 2024 re-release outgrossed the original.
What Happens Across Three Chapters
Vinayak, played by Sohum Shah, who also produced it over six years, finds the womb under the old mansion, a red cave where Hastar lives. He takes flour dough as an offering, grabs a handful of coins from the god’s loincloth and climbs out before it wakes. He gets rich. He teaches his son, Pandurang, in a scene with a lot of dolls. The son has a better idea than one coin at a time. It is 1947 and the British are leaving, and greed, the film says, does not.
Why It Looks The Way It Does
The rain is real, filmed over multiple monsoons. The mansion in the village is real. The womb was a set lit in red. Hastar, when it appears, is a practical costume. Ajay-Atul’s score and the lullaby that opens the film are the sound of it. It is the best Indian horror film of its decade and it is not close.
Watch Tumbbad On GoMovies
108 minutes in HD, Hindi audio. Press play above. Free, no account.
