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Why the Indian Folk-Horror Film *Tumbbad* Is Shocking in the Best Ways

Tumbbad turns a treasure hunt into folk horror and a story of greed, with Hastar’s invented mythology and three historical eras giving its scares unusual weight.
Opened Runtime3 min Written byDocumentaryTube Team
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Tumbbad makes its horror inseparable from its story of greed: a treasure hunt becomes a family’s inheritance, a source of terror, and a lens on India’s changing eras. Directed by Rahi Anil Barve and Adesh Prasad, the 2018 Indian-Swedish film centres on Vinayak’s pursuit of a mythical ancestral treasure and the guardian standing in its way, according to its Venice festival profile.

What is Tumbbad about?

Vinayak is drawn to a hidden ancestral treasure. The search leads him into confrontation with its guardian and grows into an escalating pursuit. That simple engine—a man wants gold and keeps returning for more—gives the film room to build dread around family, poverty, and the cost of appetite.

The treasure’s guardian, Hastar, belongs to the film’s fictional mythology. The Indian Express describes him as a fallen god at the centre of the legend. Director Rahi Anil Barve’s explanation of the character is chillingly apt: “There is nothing worse than a fallen god. A corrupt human or demon will have limits to their corruption and greed. But a fallen god has no such ethics binding him. His wretchedness is unparalleled, don’t you think?” The Indian Express interview presents this as Barve’s interpretation, not as a claim about religious scripture.

Is the legend based on a real Indian myth?

Not as a direct retelling of an established traditional myth, according to Barve. In a 2018 interview with Cineuropa, he said: “I created the legend in 2007. Of course, Indian history, customs, literature and folk tales served as inspirations for Tumbbad.” The distinction matters: the film draws on a broad cultural inheritance, but its central legend was created for the story. Cineuropa’s interview with Barve is the clearest source for that account.

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Why does the horror feel so distinctive?

Greed is the source of the suspense

The supernatural threat is tied to a recognisable human impulse. Vinayak’s pursuit of gold is not just a way to trigger scares; it keeps raising the stakes of the story. The danger grows alongside his appetite, making the treasure feel less like a prize than a trap that he chooses to approach again.

Hastar makes the myth unsettling

A fallen god is a more disturbing guardian than a conventional monster because the idea carries both supernatural menace and moral ruin. Barve described the film as a cautionary tale about greed in his conversation with The Indian Express. Hastar’s story and Vinayak’s choices work together: one gives greed a monstrous face, the other shows its human consequences.

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Fear comes from unease as well as shocks

Barve told The Indian Express, “Fear is one of the most primal emotion and instinct that we humans have, I feel that it’s bigger than sexual desire or even hunger.” The film’s approach fits that view. Its folk-horror premise, period setting, family danger, and unusual mythology create unease that does not depend solely on familiar horror devices. That combination helps explain why the film may strike viewers as distinctive; it is an interpretation of its craft, not a measured claim about audience response.

What do the film’s three eras mean?

Barve described the film’s chapters as reflecting changing political and economic systems in India. His framework links the characters’ relationship to wealth with feudalism, British imperial rule, and capitalism after independence. It is the director’s intended reading of the film, not a claim that its fictional village or family provides a comprehensive account of Indian history.

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Chapter’s desire Barve’s historical reading
Vinayak’s mother wants one gold coin Feudalism
Vinayak wants many coins Imperialism under British rule
Vinayak’s son wants to rob a bank Capitalism after independence

As Barve put it, “So Vinayak’s story mirrors the transformations that were happening in India.” The changing eras make the pursuit of wealth feel larger than one man’s obsession: each generation inherits a different ambition, but the desire to take more persists.

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How did the film come together?

Barve told Cineuropa that he had worked on the film since 2007 and that it took six years to complete after Sohum Shah joined as producer. He also described financing delays related to the unusual subject, period setting, and production demands, and said the visual-effects work he discussed was handled in Sweden. These are Barve’s contemporaneous production remarks, not a single definitive measure of the project’s total duration.

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The Venice festival profile identifies Barve and Adesh Prasad as directors. A 2024 Indian Express report also credits Anand Gandhi as creative director and lists Shah among the producers and cast. The film returned to Indian theatres in September 2024, bringing renewed attention to its journey since its 2018 release. The Indian Express reported on the re-release.

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