When your director is also the writer (Rahi Anil Barve), you have a cohesive vision of the project. You add a brilliant DOP (Pankaj Kumar) and you have a brilliant experience like Tumbbad.

This was forever on my list, and now finally have seen it, I instantly regret not watching it on a big screen when it was released.

Tumbbad is a story-driven experience. In the mysterious town of Tumbbad, where it always rains, there is an old mansion (vada). It holds a terrifying secret that very few are aware of and it has to do with all the gold in this world. Saying anything else would be risking spoilers.

This was a long journey for the team which started from even finding a producer who could back this director's vision without forcing changes citing Indian audience preferences. The rain scenes of Tumbbad alone took 4 monsoons of on-location shoots. Then there were iterations of the main antagonist too which overall needed 2+ years of post-production alone.

I am always a big fan of movies where the writer gets the free hand. Here Rahi had this story ready for quite some time. The spooky atmosphere is heavily inspired by the works of Narayan Dharap, a prominent Marathi horror writer with 100+ books under his name. In one of the interviews, Rahi mentioned that the story could be adapted to any other culture/language and it can then transform organically as their own story.

Apart from DOP and screenplay, the movie does a brilliant job in the sound department. Jesper Kyd, the guy behind some Hitman and Assassin's Creed games, provided the very essence of atmospheric soundscape the movie needed. There is a song composed by Ajay Atul, which fades in comparison to the indo-western soundstage Jesper has set up. This is another unique thing about the film where sound is the first citizen and not an afterthought once all the catchy songs are made. Further kudos to the director for sticking to his guts about not compromising by introducing item numbers, or more songs in general (yes, he was asked to do so by some Indian producers)

With many areas of the film being spectacular, it fairs well even with mediocre acting. There aren't any known faces in the film and overall the acting department is shortchanged. The main lead is also the producer of the film.

Tumbbad's worldbuilding deserves praise. The myth is well fortified. I could not find plot holes in it, and also there are discussions about it on quora and Reddit etc. Very few Bollywood films can claim such a feat. The last twist worked very well for me.

Made on a production budget of ₹50 million (US$630,000), the film grossed a total of ₹136 million (US$1.7 million) at the box office, making it a profitable venture. I just hope this results in more Indian producers and directors venturing into genres which are not traditionally mainstream.

And more on-location shoots, please. Quite recently I have enjoyed almost all on-location shot films, Newton, Sherni, Anek and now this.