Tumbbad – More Than Just a Film

What makes a movie stand out for you?

This is not an easy question to answer for anyone. I once had a really long discussion about it, and it came down to this: Is the film asking a good enough question to the audience?

Let me give you some examples:

• Oppenheimer: Is the creation of a weapon of mass destruction necessary, and can it still be considered scientific progress if it endangers humanity?

• Masaan: Do the less fortunate not have the right to love and mourn with dignity in a world divided by class and societal norms?

• Whisper of the Heart: Is artistic talent an inherent gift, or can it be cultivated through dedication and practice, or perhaps a blend of both?

As you can see from the examples above, once the question is nailed, the medium, language, and other elements don't matter as much. Of course, the way the film answers the question through visuals and dialogue matters, but you get my point.

Tumbbad also asks a simple but a necessary question: Is greed worth it?

This question is not new to us as Indians. We grew up listening to stories like Lalchi Kutta (The Greedy Dog), Mahabharata, Bhasmasura, King Midas and the Golden Touch—and these are only the ones I remember.

Tumbbad answers this question well with its folklore style and making it visually spectecular. Now, I can ramble about the film’s visual appeal, story, direction, alternative endings, and the expanding universe of Tumbbad, but you can hear that from Sohum himself here.

I'd rather talk about a different impact the film unintentionally made.

Impact of Cinema on India

I think people take movies way too seriously in India. It becomes problematic when people take films like Animal too seriously and rant about everything wrong with it. But it’s brilliant when you watch films like 3 Idiots, Dangal, PK, Taare Zameen Par, and take away a good lesson, or at least it makes you think. You can disagree all you want, but culture in India is largely shaped by cinema, and this becomes even truer as you reach tier-3 cities.

I love Tumbbad as a movie, but what I love more is that it represents a culture we’ve forgotten over time. I remember bedtime stories my grandma used to tell, the stories we heard in class (I literally had a subject called moral science), epics performed as Ram Leela before Dusshera, Mahabharata as a TV show, stories during Holi, and other minor festivals. But somewhere along the way, we forgot about all this, and now we’re fed Indian versions of Westernized movies.

I genuinely believe that movies can make a huge difference in how we see the world, and I’d love for my films to be more like Tumbadd. Not only should they ask great questions, but they should also answer them in a beautiful way.

Potential Impact on Creators

This year, we saw a lot of films being re-released, from old classics like Pyaasa to more modern ones like Rockstar and Gangs of Wasseypur. While Pyaasa didn’t earn much, most of these films did well.

Amidst this, Tumbbad did something different: they removed it from OTT. Now, there’s hype around a film that didn’t get the love it deserved when it first released. Sohum must’ve made a bank out of this move, and he will likely continue to do so with future films.

I wish there will be fewer films but of better quality, so there’s enough room for old movies to make a comeback without the new ones disappointing. And in the case of sequels, filmmakers could think ahead—like when the second movie releases, they remove the first one from everywhere and build hype around it, like Tumbbad did.

I hope this pushes creators to make films with a long-term vision, to invest more in better writers, directors, actors, and so on. They should stop thinking about immediate results and focus on telling good stories that can be retold. Sooner or later, such films will get the love they deserve, and producers will get their returns.

But all this is possible only when they make a good movie. And as we discussed—what makes a good movie?

A good movie is one that asks a good question to its audience and answers it well.

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