Tumbbad

“Plays out like a Panchatantra tale… Gothic… Barve is a director with vision and a voice, and his film will undoubtedly spawn a cult of admirers. And, ideally, imitators.”

Rating: 3 stars | Full review

“Ghoulish Panchatantra fable… The story is driven by the stunning images — contrasts of light and dark, or water and fire, which are shot like cave paintings.”

Rating: 4 stars | Full review

“The imagery on screen is astounding. From the lushness of the rain-soaked outdoors to the claustrophobic recesses of the sprawling, ancestral home that hides more than one creepy secret, we get a varied canvas.”

Rating: 3.5 stars | Full review

“An ancient myth. A hideous demon. Hidden treasure. Human greed. This potent mix is stirred and ground in Tumbbad, and the result is a highly unusual, visually stunning, richly atmospheric concoction of genres and themes: horror, fantasy, social, period. I also found echoes of folk-tales, not your cosy happy-ever after kinds, but the ones that leave you distinctly uneasy.”

Rating: 3.5 stars | Full review

“As someone who derives immense masochistic pleasure from getting startled by the horror genre, I have to confess I draw the line at zombie flicks and other works that do not rest on intelligent mind games but seek to creep us out with oozing pustules, crumbling monsters and festering wounds. I therefore settled into watching Tumbbad with considerable trepidation from the moment I saw an introductory shot of a decaying foot. Yet, curiously enough, although this film does have a fair share of bloodied and rotting bodies, there is nothing gory or visually repulsive  about it.”

Rating: 3.5 stars | Full review

“The frames are hypnotic but in an infected way, as if this universe unfurling under the grey skies of pre-Independence Maharashtra were a manifestation of something more adult, more tortured – like perhaps the demons in the maker’s mind? It hasn’t been easy for director Rahi Anil Barve to realize his decade-long vision. In some strange manner, everything we see on screen now is a projection of, and simultaneously an escape from, his phase-wise struggles. As a result, it is visually expressive but emotionally strained.”

Rating: 3 stars | Full review

“Part morbid-fantasy, mostly magic-realism… An artsy, gutsy mix of mythology, history, horror, and moral science. Do these elements seamlessly add up for you to naturally feel for the characters in the story? Honestly, no. Does the incredibly strong visual craftsmanship (rare for an Indian indie) satisfyingly guide you into a world hitherto unseen/unknown? Oh, absolutely.”

Rating: 3 stars | Full review

“There are underlayers of starving monsters and webby secret chambers, but no Alices or compassionate barn spiders. The labyrinths in the film open exclusively for brutes and testosterone-drenched men… The look of the film is Goya meets Graphic Novel; with scenes shot either in the claustrophobic darkness of Puneri Wadas or colour-drained outdoors.”

Rating: 2 stars | Full review