Tumbbad First Reviews: Sohum Shah's Fantasy Horror Earns High Praise From Critics At Venice Film Festival 2018

Actor-producer Sohum Shah and producer Aanand L Rai are joining hands to bring one of a kind, fantasy-horror film, Tumbbad to the big screen. The film had seen a troubled delayed production what with the Ship of Theseus director Anand Gandhi walking out of the film, though he still retains the writing credits. Tumbbad is directed by debutant Rahi Anil Barve and Adesh Prasad. The teaser of the film came out some days back and stunned everyone on social media.

Tumbbad has opened in the recent Venice Film Festival 2018, where it had got some glowing reviews from the critics present at the screening. The movie has got praise for its production values, the explorative themes, the blend of horror and fantasy elements and the performances, especially the lead actor, Sohum Shah.

Check out what critics are saying about the film -

The Film Stage says, "The religious aspects are entrenched in Hinduism with distinctly Indian environments and history impacting its characters’ recklessness, but that’s all part of the appeal because it renders this horror thriller unique. Like Turkey’s Baskin or Indonesia’s Satan’s Slaves remake, Barve and Prasad are able to inject their distinctive culture with routine tropes that lend a visceral familiarity to folklore completely foreign to international audiences. It allows its new terrors and monsters the potential to be seen as more than knock-offs of fan favorites with singular worlds dictated by rules unbeholden to Christian scripture’s limited scope. As long as mankind’s universal concepts of greed, vanity, and fear remain as motivating factors for its “heroes,” we’ll relate and absorb the unknown."

Screen Anarchy says, "Tumbbad's extended production history means that a huge number of technicians are responsible for the final product, but it still manages to retain a certain aesthetic cohesiveness that will please viewers across the board. The cinematography by Pankaj Kumar pays effective tribute to the film's rural settings by giving the audience wonderful sweeping views of the Indian countryside while also managing to capture the moments of claustrophobic violence and terror incredibly effectively."

The Hollywood Reporter says, "Shah does a spectacular job of creating a fascinating, lustful rogue who, by his own admission, has only one quality: greed. But of course he also has immense, reckless courage and the ability to keep his eyes fixed on a single goal: money. In town, he moves into a large house with his simple-hearted wife (Anita Date), cashing in a handful of gold coins at a time with the colorful broker and opium dealer Raghav (a twinkling, genielike Deepak Damle). But as he watches the gold pour in, Raghav starts getting greedy, too. Too bad he doesn’t know the family secret of handling little Hastar."

Film Companion says, "The story is driven by the stunning images — contrasts of light and dark, or water and fire, which are shot like cave paintings by cinematographer Pankaj Kumar. Many of these images — a drenched woman in a red sari, a boy with flour on his face — are repeated, as are themes like patriarchy and toxic masculinity. The men use women for sex, hate them being independent, and think they exist only to perform household chores. The mother goddess is a distant memory."

ICYMI, here's the teaser of Tumbbad -

Tumbbad, also starring Jyoti Malshe, Dhundhiraj Prabhakar Jogalekar, Anita Date, and Deepak Damle, is releasing in India on October 12.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 02, 2018 08:50 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).