Aanand L Rai to present Sohum Shah's Tumbbad: 'I want to be involved with genre-redefining films'

Tanu Weds Manu director Aanand L Rai, who had attended the pre-release screening of upcoming horror-mystery thriller Tumbbad, will be presenting the film under his home banner Colour Yellow Productions along with Eros International, as per a report by Mumbai Mirror . 

Sohum Shah (left) and Aanand L Rai (right). Twitter/@s0humshah, @aanandlrai

He said that even before he left for the US for the shoot of his upcoming project Zero , featuring Shah Rukh Khan as a dwarf, Katrina Kaif and Anushka Sharma, he had watched the Tumbbad and instinctively decided to be associated with it.

Tumbbad, set in colonial India, is a non-liner narrative with fantasy elements and a lush, stylised look. “We are looking at an October release,” Rai said, according to the same report.

Noted film critic Taran Adarsh shared the first look of Tumbbad on Twitter:

Eros International and Aanand L Rai join hands for #Tumbbad... Directed by Rahi Anil Barve... Produced by Sohum Shah, Aanand L Rai, Mukesh Shah and Amita Shah... Executive producer: Anand Gandhi... 12 Oct 2018 release... Motion poster: pic.twitter.com/dCR5K3FWIR

— taran adarsh (@taran_adarsh) July 4, 2018

Sohum Shah, the producer and actor in the film, reunited with Ship of Theseus director Anand Gandhi to script the film. Rahi Anil Bharve will debut as a director with Tumbbad, one of the most recognised projects at Hong Kong Filmart held in March 2018.

Aanand L Rai opined that there is a tendency to bracket anything “genre-redefining” coming out of India as a “festival film” which needs to change. He further stated that had a film like Newton released five years back, it would have been treated as the same, but it performed well at the box office and to him too,it was a commercial film. “With Tumbbad, I want to reach a pan-India audience.” he said adding that his audience was intelligent enough to identify and interpret the world in which the story is set.

Rai also praised Sohum Shah’s talent and courage as a producer " You need guts to come up with a film like Tumbbad and hats off to him to have stood by it as a producer and an actor. It’s not easy because for a new rulebook, you first need to break certain rules and then work on rewriting them,” Aanand told Mumbai Mirror

Rai’s Colour Yellow Productions will also be producing, along with Zero, Anurag Kashyap’s  Manmarziyan , Happy Phir Bhaag Jayegi, the sequel to Happy Bhaag Jayegi (2016) as well as the bilingual adventure drama  Moothon . 

As a director, Rai is intended towards redefining genres, ushering in a change in movies. “With Tumbbad, it will be a new world of horror and mystery,” he said as per the above-mentioned report.

Director Rajkumar Hirani, who is now basking in the success of Sanju , Tweeted on 19 May about upcoming fantasy epic thriller Tumbbad

Just saw an early screening of TUMBBAD. I have not seen a more visually stunning film in a long time. Great camera work, art, costumes. And @s0humshah you are outstanding in the film!@LittleTownFilms

— Rajkumar Hirani (@RajkumarHirani) May 19, 2018

“It is definitely a great motivation for us when a creative powerhouse like Rajkumar Hirani goes out of his way to appreciate and shows his love for something we have been working on for the past six years. I am glad that Raju-sir was able to make it in between his hectic schedule of Sanju.” Sohum Shah told Indo-Asian News Service in response to Hirani’s tweet as per a report by The Indian Express