REVIEW 644: TUMBBAD

Release date:	October 12, 2018
Director:	Rahi Anil Barve
Cast: Language:	Sohum Shah, Jyoti Malshe, Dhundhiraj Prabhakar Jogalekar, Anita Date, Deepak Damle, Ronjini Chakraborty, Mohd Samad Hindi

When I was a child I used to imagine that there is a ghost in every commode, monsters under the bed, and that if you looked hard enough into the inky black night, especially up in the mountains, you would see the spectre of a white man from the colonial era about whom I had heard from an older relative (although she said the spirit descends from a ceiling calling out the words “Van Ross I’m coming”).

There is no foreigner among the primary players in Tumbbad. What we have instead is a wizened and diseased Indian grandmother, a frightened mother and two little children. When we meet them somewhere in rural Maharashtra about three decades before Independence, the mother is nursing the old woman while the kids puzzle over the mysterious goings-on in the shadowy innards of their decrepit habitation. They know that their parent is terrified of something, but they do not know for sure what it is. Looming in the background of their lives is a massive ancestral dwelling in the village of Tumbbad and a treasure they are not allowed to mention.

The air is ominous, and everything that follows serves to build up the sense of unease that settles in with the first shot. India wins her freedom from the British and the older son grows into a man (played by Ship of Theseus and Simran’s Sohum Shah) still burning with curiosity about the fate that befell his family when he was a child and what that treasure could do for him.

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. In fact, it soon becomes clear that director Rahi Anil Barve is not aiming at repelling the audience as much as leaving us spooked out and fascinated. DoP Pankaj Kumar (Ship of Theseus, Haider) evidently shares his vision since he shoots the film’s creatures cleverly, mostly in dim settings and without allowing his camera to stare at them for long, working far more on the power of suggestion than the spoonfed visual and greatly complemented by the sound – surprisingly understated for this genre – and production design.

Equally surprisingly understated are the performances of this excellent cast. Shah leads the charge, displaying his versatility by comfortably combining an alluring handsomeness with the slimy aspect of his character, in a role far removed from his niceness as the leading lady’s beau in Simran.

Although Tumbbad is not a big film in conventional terms, in the sense that it features no superstars and is not flashy, it has certainly been mounted on a lavish scale. Kumar’s cinematography contributes to the feeling of largeness, as does the art design. In terms of its images, it has been laid out like a triptych, with Segment 1 of the canvas dominated by the hero’s living quarters which gradually metamorphose from a humble home into a semi-luxe Raja Ravi Varma painting; the second are the vast misty landscapes he traverses (which reminded me of the magnificence of Ship of Theseus); and third, a mysterious blood red arena.

Produced by Sohum Shah himself in association with Anand L. “Tanu Weds Manu” Rai, Tumbbad is written by Mitesh Shah, Adesh Prasad, Barve himself and Ship of Theseus’ director Anand Gandhi. The credits tell us that it has been inspired by the works of the late Marathi horror specialist Narayan Dharap. The end result of this collaboration is a somewhat indefinable film. Greed is the overriding theme. On the face of it, it is a horror flick with a folksy feel, a sort of fantastical desi retelling of The Goose That Laid The Golden Eggs. Yet when at one point the leading man goes hunting for hidden gems, he enters what appears to be the pulsating insides of an orifice in a human body, giving Tumbbad its allegorical resonance. Is he in a cave or within the mind of another being or...? It could be one or more of many options.

The joy of watching Tumbbad comes from the fact that Barve and his co-writers offer no answers, making this a delightfully intriguing film.

Rating (out of five stars): ***1/2

CBFC Rating (India):	A
Running time:	113 minutes 6 seconds

This review has also been published on Firstpost:

https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/bollywood/tumbbad-movie-review-ship-of-theseus-team-redefines-horror-with-this-genre-defying-folksy-fantasy-flick-5360211.html

Posters courtesy: https://www.facebook.com/TumbbadFilm/

CHANGING DEFINITIONS OF NICHE, MAINSTREAM CINEMA / ARTICLE PUBLISHED IN MAXIM

(This article by Anna MM Vetticad was first published in the January 2014 issue of Maxim magazine)

THE 2014 MOVIE

If you think you’ve seen the best Hindi movie, think again. Mainstream filmmakers are getting more and more experimental, and indie cinema is getting much more visible. It’s only going to get better. Why? Because audiences are demanding a mixed palette of films in theatres, and not just because numbers matter... because filmmakers want to give you something new.

By Anna MM Vetticad

Spot the commercial ventures from the plot-lines of these unreleased films:

1. A man accidentally discovers the ability to control the lives of his family by moving stars around in the sky, using a unique gadget.

2. Recession tests an idealistic young couple’s relationship in the face of the girl’s father’s belief that love can’t survive a cash crunch.

3. Mumbai transforms into the metropolis it is today “against a backdrop of love, greed, violence and jazz music.”

Tough? Well, here’s more information then. The first is Taramandal, produced by Anand Gandhi, director of that cinematic gem, Ship of Theseus. The second 
is YRF’s Bewakoofiyaan, starring Rishi Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor and Ayushmann Khurrana, and directed by Nupur Asthana, who’s best known for the tele-series Mahi Way. The third is the sketch floating around the Internet of director Anurag Kashyap’s Bombay Velvet, starring Ranbir Kapoor and Anushka Sharma.

In case you are now mentally slotting these films, consider this: Who’s to say whether Kashyap’s films are “commercial” (which traditionally means they are filled with elements that tend to appeal to the masses) or “niche,” considering that he is now a brand in his own right? After all, his Gangs of Wasseypur 1&2 were box-office successes, and he now routinely partners major studios. Hold on, though... He’s still seen as the poster-boy of offbeat cinema with his own production house backing small films by unknown directors.

And, let’s hold on again... Since Bombay Velvet stars Kapoor, the conventional assumption would be that it’s mainstream.

But this particular actor’s interest in the untried and untested was evident with Rocket Singh Salesman Of The Year, so he’s likely to willingly team up with Kashyap for an avant-garde venture. Then again...

And that’s the point. Through the nationwide parallel cinema movement up to the 1980s, most directors and actors from the Mumbai film industry tended to fit into fixed brackets, and if they didn’t, audiences and general film folk would try to find a slot for them. Today’s film industry is different.

Of course, many directors determinedly stick to larger-than-life, fantastical, formulaic films made on massive budgets, but the likes of Kashyap, Vishal Bhardwaj, Dibakar Banerjee and Imtiaz Ali defy definitions. Their films occupy a (seemingly precarious) middle-of-the-road category somewhere between the old parallel and the new mainstream. Their budgets have increased dramatically. Glamorous stars vie for a chance to work with them. Big studios join hands with them. And their box-office earnings are shooting up. Even as their fortunes rise, indie productions (to be read as films made without money from studios) are also gradually travelling beyond film festivals and into theatres.

“People like me are experimenting so much culturally that some filmmakers who were considered niche by the mainstream are considered mainstream by us,” says Anand Gandhi. His thoughts are mirrored by Rucha Pathak, senior creative director (Studios) at Disney UTV, who explains this fluidity: “Unlike the 1970s parallel cinema movement, everything is more scattered today. A director may, on one day, make a film that could be independent but by the next day, do a completely different kind of film.” And the best thing is, there’s acceptability for both.

Most studios, too, now aspire to a mixed filmography on their release rosters, either by picking up indie films at the distribution stage or themselves producing more radical films, or doing both. UTV, for instance, in 2013 distributed Gandhi’s Ship of Theseus that many would consider an indie art-house project. It also co-produced and distributed the Irrfan-Nimrit Kaur-Nawazuddin Siddiqui-starrer The Lunchbox, a film heavily promoted by Karan Johar, as well as Rohit Shetty’s Chennai Express. According to Team Theseus, the film was made at a cost of around Rs 2.5 crore, collected about Rs 2 crore at domestic turnstiles (an uncommonly large amount for a film of this sort) and is currently exploring international markets. Trade sources say The Lunchbox was made at Rs 4 crore and earned Rs 24 crore at the Indian box-office (“a blockbuster in its space,” says Johar), and Chennai Express netted more than Rs 200 crore-plus at home. So though the earning potential of blockbusters is skyrocketing, studios have benefitted from addressing the audience’s demand for variety, or what Gandhi calls “viewer exhaustion with the same old crap”.

Adds Shoojit Sircar, director of Vicky Donor and Madras Café — which he describes as “mainstream films with daring subjects”: “Access to the Internet and television have educated the audience. Those who grew up watching content-driven, screenplay-led international films will watch if the Mumbai film industry offers them a bit of stimulation. Many mainstream filmmakers are pushing the envelope now and the audience likes it.”

The mainstream, as a matter of fact, has always had rebels who stretched the straitjacket (rewind to Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s norm-defying Parinda in the noisy 1980s or to Ram Gopal Varma’s first decade or so in films). What’s changed now is the space slowly becoming available to offbeat films, including indies. “It’s become easier because big studios and corporates have deals with exhibitors through the year for a bouquet of films, so if I have an Aamir and an SRK film but I also have small films, I have the muscle to get screens in theatres for the small films too,” explains Alpana Mishra, chief executive officer of Alt, the alternative cinema brand of Ekta Kapoor’s Balaji Motion Pictures. Mishra throws in a caveat, though, “But independent films not backed by studios still struggle for space in theatres.”

Actor Chandan Roy Sanyal — best known for his supporting performance as Mikhail in the Shahid Kapoor-starrer Kaminey — recalls the one-and-a-half years it took to release the Hindi-English indie, Prague, in which he played the lead. When it did make it to cinema halls through a lesser known distributor in late 2013, it was pulled out after a five-day run to make way for the Ranbir-Rishi-Neetu-Kapoor-starrer Besharam that released mid-week to take advantage of a holiday. “At least Prague came to theatres, so I can put it on my CV. Usually people like me get small roles in big films, and the films in which we play leads don’t get released,” says Sanyal. “But we have to be positive and keep at it. Today we’ve got two shows, earlier we wouldn’t get even that.”

The true “problem” — although this is as true for any industry as it is for the movies — is that indies are still competing with giants for screens. If a starless film is up against SRK’s or Salman Khan’s or Akshay Kumar’s next, which do you think cinema halls will favour? Minimally- marketed, starless fringe films rely on a positive viewer and reviewer response. This word-of-mouth takes time to spread and it may not always happen, even though the film is well-crafted. So such films are unlikely to rake in crores in the first week, but the ones that strike a chord have the potential to build up over several weeks and months.

Unfortunately, longevity is hard to get when influential studios are not distributing them. Even Ship of Theseus — presented by Aamir Khan’s wife, director Kiran Rao, and well promoted by its distributor, UTV — “was pulled out of theatres when it was still running housefull to make place for other films,” says its executive producer, Ruchi Bhimani. So, clearly, there is a need for an art-house chain of theatres and/or more theatres as a whole (according to industry estimates and media reports, India has only one-tenth the number of screens the US has for every one million people in the population). 

Until that happens, hope lies in studios backing indies and PVR Director’s Rare, PVR’s pioneering distribution wing dedicated to ultra-niche cinema in all languages. Shiladitya Bora, head of Director’s Rare, believes that the banner’s key achievement is that it has “affected people’s viewing patterns.” He says the first Director’s Rare film, released in January 2012, sold 1,500 tickets. Now, two years on, the average per film is 12,000-13,000 tickets. The label’s greatest success, the purely crowd-funded Kannada film Lucia, sold about 65,000 tickets in 105 days (this is not counting its phenomenal run within Karnataka and also some non-Karnataka centres where it was distributed by other companies). Adds Bora, “Regional indies can be more successful than Hindi indies because you know that there is at least one market where most of your money will come from, whereas a Hindi indie has no primary market. It’s difficult for a Hindi indie to get noticed amidst the clutter unless you have a good marketing budget.”

Despite the fact that the scenario is challenging, there’s still reason to clink those champagne glasses for the niche moviemaker — and for an audience that wants different fare on screen. As the Mumbai film industry’s mainstream directors and studios get more inventive, and indies get more visibility, smaller producers are waking up and gently sniffing the coffee. Masala king Rohit Shetty springs a surprise when he says his new production house’s offerings will include low-key non-star films, “the kind I’m not directing”.

Even the Bhatt family’s Vishesh Films — currently identified with low-budget films, the horror genre and Sunny Leone’s Indian film launch — is revisiting films mirroring the mood of the critically-acclaimed Arth and Saaransh with which Mahesh Bhatt made his name as a director. Vishesh’s forthcoming film, City Lights, is helmed by Hansal Mehta, whose Shahid, the real-life story of a human rights lawyer in Mumbai, earned universal critical acclaim and money last year. City Lights is an adaptation of Metro Manila, which is Britain’s entry to the 2014 Oscars. Mehta strikes an optimistic note on the changing face of Hindi cinema, quoting words that the eponymous protagonist of Shahid used to describe the Indian judiciary: “Waqt lagta hai par ho jaata hai.” Things take time in the film industry, but they do happen. And that’s really good news for the viewer.

(Anna MM Vetticad is on Twitter as @annavetticad)

Photographs courtesy (top to bottom): (1) Still from Ship of Theseus – Spice PR (2) Poster of The Lunchbox – UTV Motion Pictures (3) Poster of Lucia – PVR Director’s Rare (4) Still from City Lights – Effective Communication

Note: These photographs were not published in Maxim

THE annavetticadgoes2themovies AWARDS ☺ - BEST BOLLYWOOD FILMS AND STARS OF 2013

Neeraj Kabi as Maitreya the monk in Anand Gandhi's Ship of Theseus

Whatever your complaints may be about the Mumbai film industry, you have to admit that the opening up of the exhibition sector in the past couple of years has led to a windfall for film buffs. Last year was a wonderful example of what can happen when niche films are given space in mainstream theatres – not only do they find an audience, they also make big money. For proof, look no further than my choices for 2013’s best films from Bollywood. Even two years back, we wouldn’t have dreamed that a film like Ship of Theseus would get a release anywhere beyond the festival circuit. Yet it did. Across India. And The Lunchbox – bereft of glitz, glamour, megastars and naach-gaana – not only came to theatres, it went on to earn six times the money spent on making it, by the end of its theatrical run in India.

All’s not hunky dory yet, we have miles to go before we sleep, but there is still plenty of reason to celebrate. Now here are my choices for Bollywood’s Best Films and Actors (male & female, in leading and supporting roles) for 2013:

BEST FILM – TOP 5:

1: Ship of Theseus

For the record, my definition of Bollywood is the primarily (but not entirely) Hindi film industry based in Mumbai. Keeping that definition in mind, this choice is a no-brainer. Director Anand Gandhi’s Ship of Theseus is a thing of beauty, both literally and philosophically. The film brings together three seemingly unconnected stories, the first about a Mumbai-based photographer whose sight is restored through a corneal transplant, after which she struggles with her craft; the second about a monk who is locked in a legal battle with unethical pharmaceutical companies but must ultimately turn to those very companies when his own health fails him; and the third about a young stockbroker who tries to help a poor man cheated of his kidney in a transplant racket. The film moves smoothly from one well-told story to the next to the next, until it culminates in a completely surprising, profoundly moving climax.

No one watching Pankaj Kumar’s sumptuous cinematography would guess that this film was made at a cost of just Rs 2.5 crore, which is small change for commercial Bollywood films these days. The writing is brilliant, filled with tenderness, reflections on life, questions about human existence and unexpected humour. Mumbai theatre professional Neeraj Kabi as Maitreya the monk in the second segment and co-producer Sohum Shah playing the stockbroker Navin of the third story merit a special mention from among the brilliant cast (Amba Sanyal in the role of Navin’s grandmother is the film’s only weak link).

There is so much to treasure and savour and ponder over in this film – such as Maitreya’s sparkling, intellectually stimulating, deliciously mischievous yet thought-provoking conversations with his cheeky young lawyer Charvaka; and that moment when Navin realises that his idea of justice is not necessarily what the rest of the world wants. All these individual elements come together under Gandhi’s directorial vision to deliver a film that is a truly elevating artistic experience.

(For the original review of Ship of Theseus click here)

The Contenders:

2: The Lunchbox directed by Ritesh Batra

3: Shahid directed by Hansal Mehta

4: Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-leela directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali

5: Lootera directed by Vikramaditya Motwane

BEST ACTOR (FEMALE) – TOP 5:

1: Deepika Padukone in Ram-leela

The competition was tough no doubt, but Deepika Padukone’s achievement in 2013 was that much of her competition was with herself. Her performance as the feisty Leela in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Ram-leela scores over the rest of her films in 2013 though because – we Bollywood-gazers rarely acknowledge this – it is no child’s play to pull off Bollywood’s trademark high drama and masala and make it look credible. You have just to see photographs of John Travolta and Kevin Spacey trying to “do Bollywood” at this year’s IIFA to know that we don’t give our girls and boys enough credit for playing these roles with conviction.

Deepika in Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani gave her Naina both depth and meaning, but since it was an evolved version of earlier performances that she has delivered, it doesn’t rank as her biggest challenge in 2013. In Chennai Express she did a tremendous job as a comedienne while simultaneously giving us the most consistent and innovative take on the Tamilian accent we’ve seen in a Hindi film so far. She managed to be comical without being crude and offensive as Bollywood “Madrasis” have been in the past, and for that she definitely deserves to be lauded for this film. However, it is with Ram-leela that she had to tackle melodrama at a far higher octave than in both YJHD and Chennai Express. She managed it without making it seem loud or over-the-top for a single second, combining raw emotion with ethereal grace as a dancer and the pizzazz to spout poetry wherever it was woven into her dialogues.

This was a difficult role that could have gone horribly wrong if Deepika had taken it a single notch higher. That she was pitch perfect is a measure of what an accomplished actress she is. It was heart-breaking though to pick Deepika over Sarika’s own take on perfection in the unheralded Club 60. Hopefully this male-dominated industry will give the older actress more such substantial roles in other films in the coming years, and we can have this argument with the self once again. For the moment though, the award goes to Ms Padukone.

(For the original review of Ram-leela click here)

The Contenders:

2: Sarika in Club 60

3: Deepika Padukone in Chennai Express

4: Deepika Padukone in Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani

5: Nimrat Kaur in The Lunchbox

BEST ACTOR (MALE) – TOP 5:

1: Irrfan Khan in The Lunchbox

In a year of sensational performances by male actors, Irrfan Khan managed to stand out by raising his game even higher than the high standards he’s set for himself. As an elderly, widowed insurance professional in Ritesh Batra’s The Lunchbox, Irrfan gave whole new dimensions to the state of being alone, as his character traversed a graph that went from self-containment to loneliness.

This is an actor who knows how to convey a million words through every glance, every touch, every barely-decipherable move. We watched as he conjured up a warm chemistry with his young female co-star Nimrat Kaur without once being in the same room with her. We witnessed his character’s irritation for Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s Shaikh giving way to tolerance and finally, reluctant affection, although he was a man of few words and even fewer gestures. In a career filled with memorable performances, this must surely rank as one of Irrfan’s best.

(For the original review of The Lunchbox click here)

The Contenders:

2: Farooque Shaikh in Club 60 and Ranveer Singh in Ram-leela

4: Raj Kumar Rao in Shahid

5: Ranveer Singh in Lootera and Chandan Roy Sanyal in Prague

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR (FEMALE) – TOP 5:

1: Supriya Pathak in Ram-leela

The Contenders:

2: Divya Dutta in Bhaag Milkha Bhaag

3: Swara Bhaskar in Raanjhanaa

4: Tanve Azmi in Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani

5: Prabhleen Sandhu in Sixteen and Rani Mukerji in Bombay Talkies

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR (MALE) – TOP 5:

1: Sohum Shah & Neeraj Kabi in Ship of Theseus

The Contenders:

3: Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub in Raanjhanaa

4: Nawazuddin Siddiqui in The Lunchbox

5: Saurabh Shukla in Jolly LLB

BEST ENSEMBLE CAST:

1: Ship of Theseus

FOOTNOTE:

I had earlier conducted polls on this blog for your pick of the Best Actor and Best Actress of 2013. The results were published in earlier posts to which I’m providing links here:

Your pick of Best Actress for 2013 was Deepika Padukone in Ram-leela – we concur there. Your pick of Best Actor 2013 was Farhan Akhtar in Bhaag Milkha Bhaag – let’s agree to disagree on that one. Akhtar was impressive in BMB but in a crowded field, there were at least six performances that were qualitatively far superior to his take on the Flying Sikh (see above section on Best Actor – Male).

Reader Poll for Best Supporting Actor (Female) 2013:

The nominees were:

Amrita Puri (Kai Po Che)

Divya Dutta (Bhaag Milkha Bhaag)

Doyel Dhawan (Aatma)

Prabhleen Sandhu (Sixteen)

Rani Mukerji (Bombay Talkies)

Sara Arjun (Ek Thi Daayan)

Supriya Pathak (Ram-leela)

Swara Bhaskar (Raanjhanaa)

Tanve Azmi (Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani)

Vaani Kapoor (Shuddh Desi Romance)

THE JOINT WINNERS OF THE READER POLL WITH MAXIMUM VOTES FROM YOU WERE: Swara Bhaskar for Raanjhanaa and Tanve Azmi for Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani

Reader Poll for Best Supporting Actor (Male) 2013:

The nominees were:

Barun Chanda (Lootera)

Farooque Shaikh (Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani)

Manoj Bajpayee (Special 26)

Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub (Raanjhanaa)

Nawazuddin Siddiqui (The Lunchbox)

Neeraj Kabi (Ship Of Theseus)

Pankaj Kapoor (Matruki Bijlee Ka Mandola)

Rajeev Gupta (Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster Returns)

Saurabh Shukla (Jolly LLB)

Sohum Shah (Ship Of Theseus)

THE WINNER OF THE READER POLL WITH MAXIMUM VOTES FROM YOU: Saurabh Shukla in Jolly LLB

All right then, onward now to the rest of 2014. Let’s see if the remaining months throw up any performance by a female star that can beat out Kangna Ranaut’s Rani in Queen. And gentlemen, we’re still waiting for you to make us stop in our tracks this year. Don’t let us down.

Photographs courtesy: (1) Ship of Theseus – Spice PR (2) Ram-leela – Everymedia PR (3) The Lunchbox – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lunchbox