Rahi Anil Barve, Anand Gandhi, and Adesh Prasad are the directors of the 2018 Hindi horror movie Tumbbad. The main character of the story is a man who, out of avarice, sets out to find a cursed god’s buried treasure. There are many talented theatre actors in the cast, and they have all done an outstanding job. I adore how the film’s horror themes serve more as triggers for the characters’ terror than as jump-scare moments for the viewer. Spoilers follow as we break down Tumbbad’s storyline and resolution.
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The main theme of Tumbbad is greed, including its never-ending cycle of negative effects and how it ultimately breaks. Everything starts with Hastar…
Hastar| Who is he, Tumbbad?
According to the mythology of the film, Hastar is the Goddess of Prosperity’s first child; he is a god who was punished because he followed the path of greed. According to myth, Hastar attempted to take the Goddess’ food and gold. Hastar was able to control the gold, but when he went for the food, the other Gods assaulted him. He was saved by the Goddess, but he was confined to her womb for all time. He never stops eating.
Sarkar is a who?
In Tumbbad, Sarkar is a lord and the owner of a huge mansion. He has been looking for the whereabouts of the treasure that Hastar stole for decades without luck. For twelve years, Vinayak’s mother has served as his mistress in the hopes of receiving one of the gold coins that make up the Hastar statue.
When Sarkar ultimately passes away due to old age, Vinayak’s mother receives the estate. She doesn’t want to interact with Tumbbad, though. She now has the gold that was cold from the statue of Hastar. She believes it would provide them with sufficient wealth to begin a new, humble life in a different city. Vinayak, on the other hand, thinks they could inherit all of the mansion’s buried treasure.
Sadly, Vinayak’s younger brother perishes after falling from a tree. Mother inters her dead child before leaving the city with Vinayak. She gets Vinayak to swear he’ll never go back to Tumbbad.
How is that elderly grandmother still alive, Tumbbad?
Grandmother of Sarkar is the elderly woman. How on earth is she still alive? The hidden wealth was discovered by her when she was little, according to her backstory. But, Hastar attacked her, and as a result, she was cursed with endless life but not with eternal youth. She is constantly hungry, just like Hastar, and she falls asleep when someone says, “Sleep, or else Hastar will come.” For years, Vinayak’s mother has been providing the elderly woman with food as she searches for that one gold coin.
The grandma is left to fester in their home after Vinayak and his mother depart from town. Years go by, and a tree grows through her, yet she is still alive because to her curse. Ouch!
Tumbbad: The Story Is
Vinayak’s arrival back in Tumbbad
Thirteen years later, Vinayak returns to Tumbbad in search of the treasure because of his avarice. When he encounters the grandmother, she offers to reveal where the gold is provided Vinayak kills the grandma to set her free. He asks Hastar all the questions he needs to know about the wealth and how to retrieve it, and then he sets her on fire.
The Method Used To Remove Gold From Hastar, Tumbbad
The gold is under the loincloth of Hastar.
Hastar is cursed, thus a wheat ring separates him from everyone inside the ring.
Since the ring only offers a tiny hemispherical dome of protection, Hastar can launch an attack as she emerges. Being able to climb quickly is crucial.
Hastar is constantly peckish, thus one must divert him with a flour-dough doll if they don’t want to get eaten.
When Hastar is preoccupied, hitting his loincloth will cause a tonne of gold coins to spill out.
To escape the womb before Hastar finishes the meal, one must gather as many gold coins as they can.
Vinayak accumulates wealth over time by robbing Hastar of her gold.
What does Raghav want? Who is he?
Vinayak has borrowed money from Raghav, an opium dealer and lender. Vinayak accumulates fortune over time, whereas Raghav experiences terrible times and needs money desperately to obtain an opium permit. Raghav uses his widowed daughter-in-law to attempt to seduce Vinayak and keep him away from Tumbbad because he knows that Vinayak obtains his gold from Tumbbad. Raghav intends to travel to Tumbbad and take the treasure there in the interim. Sadly, Vinayak learns Raghav’s strategy from his daughter-in-law.
Vinayak places a flour dough doll in a sack at the foot of the womb as a trap for Raghav. Raghav is completely ignorant of Hastar. He opens the sack to take out the flour dough doll, which calls forth Hastar, as he travels along the path from the well and arrives at the womb. Hastar strikes Raghav, and the impact causes him to become one with the womb’s wall. Raghav is mercifully killed by Vinayak as he arrives, saving the grandma from her doom.
The education of Pandurang and the journey to Tumbbad
Pandurang, the son of Vinayak, starts training when he is old enough to take over collecting gold from Hastar. Vinayak intends to perform a practise run in the womb, but Pandurang sneakily inserts a doll made of wheat dough. The two barely get it out of Hastar’s attack. Pandurang is given a gold coin by Vinayak as a prize, but he is eager to sell it in order to gain money.
Vinayak eventually takes the daughter-in-law of Raghav as his mistress. She moves towards Pandurang, who extends the gold offer. Pandurang advises Vinayak that they should steal the loincloth from Hastar and that they could buy a lot more time by taking multiple flour dough dolls and repeatedly throwing them at Hastar. Vinayak becomes enraged and nearly chokes Pandurang to death, but the young boy says they should steal the loincloth from Hastar. Vinayak is moved by his son’s suggestion, and the two men make amends.
The last journey to Tumbbad
India gains independence from British colonial power in 1947, and the newly established Indian Government takes control of the palace in Tumbbad. Vinayak desires the loincloth to be filled with gold coins even though he has all the gold he needs to last a lifetime. Vinayak and his son make one last journey to the womb while fully armed with flour dough figurines.
Sadly, their scheme backfires when numerous copies of Hastar appear, one for each doll they own. Due to the flour circle around them, the two are stuck in the womb in a small hemisphere. Vinayak climbs out after tying every doll to himself. He is followed by all of the Hastars, who are all destroyed as they leave by a secondary flour circle that surrounds the hatch.
Why Tumbbad Ends the Way It Does
The conclusion of Tumbbad shows that despite Vinayak’s success in obtaining the gold-filled loincloth, one of the Hastars touched him and cursed him. Vinayak offers Pandurang the gold, but Pandurang declines it after seeing the terrible results of the greed. In order to rescue his father from the curse and halt the cycle of greed, Pandurang burns him alive. He then tells his father to go to sleep otherwise Hastar will arrive.
No amount of money would ever be enough, thus if Pandurang had taken the loincloth stuffed with gold, he would have begun a fresh cycle of gold-lust. Pandurang would have ultimately paid the price by being cursed and passing on the greed to his descendants.
Hastar was it?
Hastar did not pass away; instead, the womb is protecting him. Every time a flour dough doll is placed in the womb, Hastar’s bodily manifestations are demonstrated to develop. The next time someone arrives with a new doll, Hastar will emerge physically once more. Hastar will continue to exist as long as humans have greed in their hearts.
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