Would you believe me if I tell you the budget of this film is just 5 crores (nearly $700k)? Before you let that fact sink in, would you believe me if I also tell you that this is the director's first ever film? Rahi Anil Barve - remember this name. You might need to speak it when someone asks you who your favourite Bollywood director is. This film was made for 6 years. Keep reading, I will tell you why it took so long.
Tumbbad is set in the village of the same name in Maharashtra. The story is set during the colonial period, and also some of it just after the independence. Though the village exists in real, it is nothing like what has been described in the film. According to the film the village has been cursed for writing the name of Hastar, a demon son of a Goddess who gave birth to 160 million gods. Because of the curse it is always raining in Tumbbad. Since the budget of this film was so low, the filming was only done during monsoon season when it was actually raining in the village. That's how low the budget of the film is - they couldn't even afford fake rain so they had to wait for 6 years to complete the filming.
In spite of the low budget, it does not give the feeling of being cheap at all. In fact if I didn't know better, I'd think this is a very expensive film. The actors aren't popular, but I don't see where the problem is over there. How many of us knew the names of all the actors from Baahubali? Still we watched it, right? So I'd think this is also a regional film. The acting is phenomenal. The horror scenes absolutely give me the creeps. It's perfect in every sense. Even the ending is left on an ambiguous note, enough to leave a shrill down anyone's spine. The posters of this film are also very good, and it's a shame to say that the worst one has been used over here. Look up for the other posters on Google Images.
The reason why Tumbbad failed to cross a huge commercial mark is because it wasn't advertised at all. If I hadn't read an answer on Quora that said it should have been sent to the Oscars instead of Gully Boy, I'd have never even known about its existence. There was literally no talk of it. Sure it has a low budget for making the film, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't spend in the marketing at all. It was so awesome, I for one would have definitely seen it if I had heard about it before. Also the only way to watch it now is through Prime, which will show you this film only if you type the correct spelling in the search box. It's a shame that you can't watch this film unless you know specifically what you're looking for.
I really admire the dedication of the director to make this film. He clearly knew this film wasn't going to be earning those big bucks, yet he continued to make it. This is what happens when you have directors who treat their work not as products but rather as works of art. I really aspire to be a filmmaker of that type. This film will be a very big lesson to me. I wish Rahi Anil Barve a very successful and prosperous career in the future.
