There is something in Tumbbad

It rains. It rains incessantly throughout the movie. It rains so much that you yourself feel drenched while leaving the theater! Apart from the rain, what remains with you is that haunting sense of absurd, supernatural existence.  

Mystic tale at its finest, Tumbbad engages you right from it's first frame. The movie is not devoid of the flaws, and the flaws are quite conspicuous, but Tumbbad finally scores owing mainly to its absolutely magnificent filming. The makers must have fought an uphill battle while bringing Tumbbad live on the screen. It's not a small feat to create a bygone era filled with hundreds of minute details. Add to that the stylized touches and you are in for a thrill ride. (There is this amazingly old passenger vehicle that frequently drops Vinayak (Sohum Shah) at Tumbbad. As the vehicle approaches through rain and haze, I could not help recalling the images from Mad Max : Fury Road'!)

Tumbbad's success lies in creating a story replete with images that keep on haunting you the next day. Mystic stories instigate our innermost emotion of fear and in that sense, it could be argued that horror fantasy is an easy way to captivate the audience. But then the 'horror layer' is not everything. There is more to it. In fact, Tumbbad is not really a horror film. In this film, horror is not even a ghost. It's a deity. And the story demands the protagonist to go and visit horror instead of horror appearing in front of him out of nowhere. So you know where the 'horror lives'. And you also know that it is not movable. This is the premise that makes Tumbbad more interesting. It is the superhuman aspect of the story that keeps tickling your imagination. 

Marathi audiences would feel that Tumbbad could have been better in Marathi because it's completely rooted in Marathi, more specifically 'Marathi Brahmin' environment. It is evident that in view of reaching to a larger audience, it's made in Hindi. The language part does not create a major obstacle, but there are a few instances where I did feel 'Oh, why Hindi?'. But again, that must be because I am Marathi! 

There are a few noticeable loopholes though. For instance, it is hard to accept that city of Pune had telephones after a few years of independence, but did not have electricity. The overall 'excitement in the experience' gets little diluted through such hiccups, but frankly the flow is little more powerful than the flaw. 

Sohum Shah does a good job as a greedy, scheming man. His unstable, 'on-off'' relation with his son is also intriguing. Jyoti Malshe, Anita Date, Ronjini Chakraborty excel as the women trapped in patriarchal society. But the mysticism of Tumbbad hovers over the characters so strongly that it leaves little room for you to take note of them individually. 

Tumbbad ultimately belongs to the director Rahil Anil Barve, creative director Anand Gandhi and co-director Adesh Prasad. They are also the writers of the film (along with Mitesh Shah) and boy, what a wonderful piece they have written! Cinematographer Pankaj Kumar needs special, very special mention. The whole experience is shaped by his brilliance with the camera. 

Do watch Tumbbad. The gods are calling!

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