Film Review: India’s contribution to the horror fantasy genre

A film like Tumbbad is fairly uncommon in Hindi cinema. While horror fantasy may come across as a new genre for Hindi film enthusiasts, the viewers accustomed to watching films of the Oscar-winning Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro understand the genre’s machinations pretty well. Some of the best examples that come to mind are Pan’s Labyrinth, The Devil’s Backbone, and Crimson Peak. Directed by Rahi Anil Barve and Adesh Prasad (credited as co-director), Tumbbad is essentially a tale of greed but one that’s neatly packaged within layers of mythology, horror, and suspense.

Tumbbad was the opening film at Venice Film Festival’s Critics’ Week. It was described by the Critics’ Week head and the Italian film critic Giona A. Nazzaro as a “visionary fantasy film, a parable about greed that travels at the speed of an Emilio Salgari’s story shot by Steven Spielberg, rich in visual inventions, special effects and blood.” Nazzaro’s verdict is certainly exaggerated but it is not without merit. For, there is no denying that Tumbbad is visually stunning thanks to some of the best special effects ever employed in Indian cinema. In fact, the visuals are so good that we are transported to the early 20th century India, where the film is set, from the word go. However, the trouble is that Tumbbad, at times, gets reduced to a mere spectacle, like so often the case with films that rely heavily on CGI and VFX.

Despite showing promise to begin with, Tumbbad ultimately flatters to deceive. Even the best special effects in the world can’t compensate for weak storytelling and as a result, Tumbbad ends up as a mere exercise in style and self-indulgence. Watching Tumbbad one feels like a thirty traveller who suddenly discovers an oasis in the middle of a desert, only to release a few moments later that it’s actually a mirage. Often it’s the simplest of the tales that offer the greatest cinematic scope. On the contrary, a film like Tumbbad, with all its convolutions, is bound to give a tough time to the best of directors, especially when it comes to exploring the different cinematic possibilities. The real culprits are the writers who seem to have bitten off more than could chew. The end result is a film that’s little more than a confused mishmash of half-baked ideas cleverly packaged in the hope of wooing an undiscerning audience.

However, on the positive side, Tumbbad proves to be a major leap for Indian cinema as far as the horror fantasy genre is concerned. It is really heartening to see young and upcoming filmmakers try their hands at new things. One hopes thatTumbbad would pave the way for more genre experiments in the near future.