Tumbbad (2018) Review: Folk Horror Soaked in Greed

Is Tumbbad worth watching?

Yes. Tumbbad is a visually stunning folk horror fable about greed, and one of the most original genre films India has produced in years. Rahi Anil Barve builds a mythology that feels ancient, stages it with remarkable craft, and turns a treasure hunt into a moral horror story. Its weaknesses lie in the characters, who serve the allegory more than they live as people, and in a final stretch that moves faster than the patient build-up deserves.

What is Tumbbad about?

The film opens with a legend about a god cast out for his hunger for gold and grain, and then moves to the village of Tumbbad in western India in 1918, a place where it never seems to stop raining. There, young Vinayak lives with his mother and younger brother, who care for a mysterious, terrifying old woman kept locked away in the village’s crumbling mansion. Vinayak becomes fascinated by rumours of a treasure hidden somewhere inside it, and that fascination grows into a lifelong obsession.

Sohum Shah plays the adult Vinayak, and the story follows him across the decades as his hunger for the treasure shapes everything around him, set against the backdrop of India’s approach to independence. Tumbbad is an Indian film in Hindi, directed by Barve and running 113 minutes. It carries an A certificate in India.

A mythology built from rain and mud

The strongest thing about Tumbbad is its world. The film’s mythology feels rooted in regional folklore rather than borrowed from Western horror, and Barve sets it in a landscape of constant downpour, dark stone and waterlogged earth. The cinematography is superb, with firelit interiors and grey, drowned exteriors that make the village feel less like a real place than a curse given physical form.

The horror itself is handled with restraint and precision. Rather than relying on jump scares, the film builds dread through confined spaces, sounds heard in the dark and a creature design that is more disturbing for how little is shown at first. Several sequences inside the mansion are masterclasses in tension, and the film’s use of practical textures alongside visual effects gives the supernatural a tactile, grimy weight.

Greed as the real curse

Tumbbad is less a monster movie than a parable. Vinayak’s obsession is presented as an inheritance, something passed down and learned, and the film asks what greed does to a family, a household and a country on the verge of change. Sohum Shah, who also produced the film, plays Vinayak with a cold, calculating intensity, a man whose charm is always a tool. It is a commanding performance, and one that refuses to soften the character.

The allegory is effective because it is simple. The treasure, the price of taking it and the escalating risks all map neatly onto the film’s argument about wanting more than you need. The supporting characters, including Vinayak’s mother and the women in his later life, are underwritten, however, existing mainly to show the damage his obsession causes rather than as people in their own right.

Where the fable hurries

For much of its running time, Tumbbad is patient and assured. The final section compresses its developments, and some viewers will feel that the story’s larger ideas, especially the backdrop of historical change, are gestured at rather than explored. At 113 minutes, it could have afforded a little more room to let its later chapters breathe.

Who should watch Tumbbad?

It is ideal for fans of folk horror, dark fantasy and mythological storytelling, and for anyone who wants to see how inventive Indian genre filmmaking can be outside the usual formulas. Watch it at night with the sound up. It is intended for adults: there is disturbing imagery, some gore, frightening creature scenes, sexual content and a generally grim, oppressive mood.

If it grips you, try these next:

• Munjya, which also draws on regional folklore for its supernatural threat, though with a much lighter, comic touch.
• Stree 2, for a small-town Indian horror world built on local legend, played for crowd-pleasing laughs as well as scares.
• More titles on the horror shelf for folk horror from around the world.

The verdict

Tumbbad is a gorgeous, grim and original horror fable that uses myth to say something sharp about greed. Its characters are thin and its ending hurried, but its world-building and atmosphere make it essential for genre fans.

Rating: 4/5