Tumbbad

Vinayak Rao, Sohum Shah narrates the haunting legend surrounding the Goddess of Prosperity, the mother of all the gods, whose gold and grain are coveted by both mortals and deities. According to the tale, Hastar, a greedy offspring who seized the Goddess’s wealth, was cursed by the other gods after the temple they built to honor him angered them. The Goddess herself saved_Hastar_ by sheltering him inside her womb on the condition that he would be forgotten by everyone. Yet in the village of Tumbbad, a temple dedicated to Hastar draws worshipers, and this reverence draws the gods’ ire, casting a curse of endless rain over the place.

In 1918, Vinayak’s mother, the mistress of the zamindar Sarkar, hopes to claim a share of a mysterious treasure rumored to lie within Sarkar’s mansion. Vinayak and his brother Sadashiv live under the care of an old woman who is kept apart in another room. When Sadashiv is injured after a fall from a tree, their mother takes him away to seek help. A terrifying encounter follows: the old woman escapes and tries to devour Vinayak as he tries to feed her, and in a pivotal moment Vinayak utters Hastar’s name, sending her into a slumber. Sarkar and Sadashiv meet their end, and Vinayak and his mother leave for Pune, setting the stage for years of quiet, desperate scheming.

Fifteen years pass, and Vinayak returns to his childhood home in Tumbbad, compelled by the lure of Sarkar’s treasure. The old woman persists, living with a grotesque tree growing from her body, and she offers to reveal the treasure’s location if he ends her suffering. She leads him to the goddess’s womb, concealed inside Sarkar’s mansion, and teaches him the method to retrieve the gold. Inside that ancient, cursed space, Hastar waits—hungry after ages of neglect. Vinayak descends with a rope, drawing a circle of flour to shield himself and luring Hastar with a dough doll. While Hastar is distracted, Vinayak steals gold coins from Hastar’s loincloth and makes a perilous escape.

Back in the real world, Vinayak burns the old woman to silence her forever and continues a perilous cycle, traveling from Pune back to Tumbbad to hoard more coins and to feed a growing hunger for wealth. He peddles the gleaming loot to his moneylender, Raghav, who follows him, suspicious of the source of his sudden fortune. Vinayak lures Raghav into the goddess’s womb with another dough doll, and Hastar attacks Raghav, whom Vinayak defeats by burning Hastar to end his torment once again.

By 1947, Vinayak’s greed has shattered his family, and the once-small craving for wealth has become a ruinous obsession. He trains his son Pandurang to continue the hunt for Hastar’s coins and takes him to Tumbbad, warning him not to bring a dough doll. Pandurang, however, brings one anyway, and Hastar launches another assault that nearly breaks them. Vinayak learns that Sarkar’s mansion has fallen under the escalating changes of an independent India, now claimed by the state, and he returns to Tumbbad with the sole aim of grabbing as much gold as he can before his hold on the mansion slips away. In a desperate bid, Pandurang proposes stealing Hastar’s entire loincloth and uses multiple dough dolls to lure Hastar. The creature multiplies into countless clones inside the womb, trapping Vinayak and Pandurang inside.

In a final, brutal gambit, Vinayak ties the dough dolls around himself to withstand Hastar’s onslaught while Pandurang escapes. Once outside, Pandurang confronts his father, now cursed by his own greed, and offers the loincloth to him. Vinayak, weakened and exhausted, is forced to confront the consequences of his choices. Pandurang, invoking Hastar’s name to lull him to sleep, burns his father and leaves Tumbbad behind, ending the fable with a stark meditation on wealth, hunger, and the price of endless desire.

• Sohum Shah delivers the steady, embittered voice of Vinayak Rao, guiding us through a legend where myth bleeds into a harsh, debt-ridden reality.

• Madhav Hari Joshi lends a formal presence to Sarkar, the enigmatic zamindar whose treasure becomes the engine of the tale.

• Rudra Soni brings Sadashiv to life as Vinayak’s younger brother, a figure whose fate helps propel the dark spiral of ambition.

• Mohammad Samad portrays Pandurang, Vinayak’s son, who becomes a central conduit in the later cycles of the treasure hunt.

• Jyoti Malshe appears as Vinayak’s mother, a key player in the early, precarious bargaining that sets the story in motion.

• Deepak Damle embodies Raghav, the moneylender whose curiosity about Vinayak’s wealth invites perilous consequences.

• Piyush Kaushik contributes the Grandmother Tree, a striking symbol threaded into the mythic landscape that frames the perilous journey.

• Harsh K marks Hastar, the insatiable force at the heart of the fable, whose presence drives the climactic battles and moral reckoning.

This retelling keeps the mythic core intact while expanding the narrative’s emotional throughline, tracing how desire, secrecy, and the weight of lineage steer Vinayak and Pandurang toward a conclusion that questions whether fortune earned through fear and suffering can ever be truly redeemed.

Last Updated: October 01, 2025 at 13:05