Sohum Shah on his next, which was in the making for six years and is now headed to Venice
Natasha Coutinho (MUMBAI MIRROR; August 8, 2018)

Actor-producer Sohum Shah’s Tumbbad, which had been in the making for six long years, is finally gearing up for a release. “It took a lot of time, but the film couldn’t have been completed faster. We didn’t have any reference points to begin with because the film deals with a different subject and has evolved with time. A lot of writing and editing work was required. The film had three-and-a-half hours of material that we edited down to 100 minutes. Also, previously, we hadn’t liked the setting, so we reshot it from scratch,” he explains.

Speaking of how he landed the part, Sohum reveals that the director, Rahi Anil Barve, had approached him after listening to a folklore from the Tumbbad region of Maharashtra. “The place is the main character in the film and I come from a small town myself. We have grown up on commercial films with lots of emotion and drama. This is an Indian film at heart with edge-of-theseat moments,” he informs.

Before its theatrical release in India, Tumbbad will be screened at the prestigious Venice Film Festival, which runs from August 29 to September 8. “It is the first Indian film to open the prestigious Critic’s Week at the fest. Aanand L Rai sir (who is presenting the film) loved it, so did Raju (filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani) and that makes us feel we are on the right path,” says Sohum.

Written by Ship of Theseus director, Anand Gandhi, the horror-thriller is set in colonial India, has a non-liner narrative with fantasy elements and a lush, stylised look.