From Tumbbad to Kantara, these folklore-fuelled films prove Indian cinema has plenty of strange, spooky and spectacular myths to bring to the big screen.
IMAGE: Sidharth Malhotra and Tamannaah Bhatia in The Vvaan.
Key Points
- The Vvaan, starring Sidharth Malhotra and Tamannaah Bhatia, is a folklore-based fantasy thriller with mythological elements, a genre less explored in Bollywood compared to southern cinema.
- Films like Tumbbad and Kantara have successfully blended folklore, horror, and social commentary, setting a high bar for the genre in Indian cinema.
- Regional cinema, including Assamese (Kothanodi), Malayalam (Churuli, Bramayugam, Lokah), and Kannada (Kantara), has a rich tradition of adapting indigenous folklore into compelling narratives.
Apart from its weirdly spelt title, The Vvaan, what grabs our attention about the new Hindi film is its setting. Starring Sidharth Malhotra and Tamannaah Bhatia, The Vvaan has revealed itself to be a folklore-based fantasy thriller with mythological elements.
The movie revolves around Sidharth Malhotra’s character who returns to his village where his non-believing nature is challenged by the strange supernatural activities that are tied to the legend hidden with an accursed forest. Produced by Balaji Motion Pictures and TVF Motion Pictures and directed by Deepak Kumar Mishra, The Vvaan also stars Anup Soni, Sunil Grover, Shweta Tiwari, Maniesh Paul and Milind Gunaji.
Such a blended genre has been explored plenty of times in southern cinema, particularly in Telugu and Kannada, with Bollywood also taking occasional detours, like Rahi Anil Barve’s masterpiece Tumbbad.
So as we await The Vvaan hitting theatres on September 25, why not check out these recent, notable folklore-based supernatural sagas recommended by Sreeju Sudhakaran from across languages?
Kothanodi (2015)
Language: Assamese
Where To Watch: Sony LIV
IMAGE: Urmila Mahanta and Adil Hussain in Kothanodi.
Before he made the skin-crawling ‘love story’ about a couple with peculiar culinary tastes in Aamis, Bhaskar Hazarika showed his love for the weird and the bizarre with Kothanodi, which translates to ‘River of Fables’.
Starring Seema Biswas and Adil Hussain, this Assamese anthology serves up four folk tales, each stranger than the last: From a woman giving birth to an elephant apple to another being married off to a python.
Dark and deeply disturbing with some splattering of gore, the oddities of these fables reflect the wicked lengths humans will go to in order to feed their greed and voraciousness.
Stree (2018)
Language: Hindi
Where To Watch: Prime Video, JioHotstar
IMAGE: Shraddha Kapoor and Rajkummar Rao in Stree.
Chudails have always been a fascinating figure in Indian folklore, a supernatural entity Hindi cinema keeps returning to in various forms.
For the horror-comedy Stree, screenwriters Raj Nidimoru and Krishna D K drew inspiration from the legend of ‘Naale Ba‘ (which means ‘Come Tomorrow’ that became the keep-away mantra for Stree… ‘O Stree, kal aana!’).
Naale Ba was a wandering female spirit in rural Karnataka who mimics the voices of loved ones to lure men out and kill them. She gets a clever spin in the movie as the spirit abducting unmarried men who dare to turn around when she calls out to them.
Stree is an immensely entertaining ride with a sharp blend of horror and comedy, featuring Rajkummar Rao, Pankaj Tripathi, Abhishek Banerjee, and Aparshakti Khurana in top form.
Its success kicked off a cinematic universe that now dabbles in even more folklore creatures, like werewolves, goblins, vampires, and headless monsters, with varying degrees of success.
Tumbbad (2018)
Language: Hindi
Where To Watch: Prime Video
IMAGE: Sohum Shah in Tumbbad.
Ask any cinephile to name their favourite Bollywood horror film of this century, and unless they are cheesy enough to pick Raaz or 1920, the answer will almost certainly be Tumbbad.
Rahi Anil Barve’s period fantasy-horror features monstrous undead grandmothers and a demonic entity called Hastar. Yet its greatest evil, as in so many classic fables, is something far more tangible and real: Human greed.
Bolstered by brilliant performances and obsessive production detail, Tumbbad is Hindi cinema finally taking the horror genre seriously, seamlessly weaving folklore, atmospheric dread, and societal rot into a visual triumph.
Bulbbul (2020)
Language: Hindi
Where To Watch: Netflix
IMAGE: Triptii Dimri in Bulbbul.
Anvita Dutt’s Bulbbul, backed by Anushka Sharma, is a beautifully shot supernatural drama with eye-catching cinematography and production design, while anchored by a magnetic lead performance from a pre-Animal Triptii Dimri.
Set in 19th-century Bengal in a village haunted by a female spirit with inverted feet, the story follows a mythical entity who protects women by slaughtering the abusive men who torment them.
Bulbbul uses its folklore tropes to tell a harrowing tale of female suppression, sexual trauma, and the sheer toxicity brewing inside aristocratic, upper-caste households.
Churuli (2021)
Language: Malayalam
Where To Watch: Sony LIV
IMAGE: Chemban Vinod and Geethi Sangeetha in Churuli.
It might be a bit of a stretch to label Lijo Jose Pellissery’s Churuli a conventional folklore film. But there is more than enough surrealism and folklore-inspired myth in what is easily his most outrageous work to date (in a good way, unlike whatever happens with Malaikottai Vaaliban).
Controversies aside, Churuli remains a hypnotic, twisted fable about two undercover policemen trapped in an eerie forest village where time bends, the locals grow increasingly bizarre, and escape seems impossible.
The movie flatly refuses to give easy answers, which makes it even more fun as a geek to decode its strange puzzles, while boasting arguably the highest density of inventive swear words I have ever heard in Malayalam cinema, several of which were completely new to me. So thanks for that, LJP!
Kantara (2022)
Language: Kannada
Where To Watch: Prime Video, Netflix
IMAGE: Rishab Shetty in Kantara.
Rishab Shetty’s blockbuster, National Award-winning supernatural thriller has its share of flaws, from a fairly run-of-the-mill storyline to the protagonist’s questionable sexist behaviour being casually passed off as heroics.
But it possesses two standout qualities that do its best to overshadow its missteps: A grounded focus on the tribal community’s struggle against forest bureaucracy and feudal landlords, and an electrifying climax.
That final sequence, where the story takes a supernatural turn and Shetty delivers an astonishing performance possessed by the spirit of the forest, is pure cinematic lightning that propelled this movie to Pan-India adoration.
Virupaksha (2023)
Language: Telugu
Where To Watch: Netflix
IMAGE: Sai Dharam Tej and Samyuktha Menon in Virupaksha.
Karthik Varma Dandu’s Virupaksha is a bit paradoxical in its messaging. It attempts to condemn the blind superstitions that drive mobs to commit horrific atrocities, yet relies on those very occult tropes to power its supernatural mystery.
If you can look past that contradiction, this Sai Dharam Tej and Samyuktha Menon starrer is a gripping ride. It tracks a secluded village cursed by a sinister crime committed decades ago, with an outsider trying to break the hex to save the woman he loves.
Virupaksha features unnerving set pieces — the railway station sequence is easily one of the most shocking — aided by eerie production design and a nerve-racking score.
Bramayugam (2024)
Language: Malayalam
Where To Watch: Sony LIV
IMAGE: Mammootty in Bramayugam.
Rahul Sadasivan, rapidly cementing his reputation as a pioneer of modern horror in Malayalam cinema, roped in Mammootty for his third directorial venture.
Shot entirely in monochrome, this period mystery unfolds inside a decaying mana in the deep forest where anyone who enters is doomed to remain without any sense of Time.
Lording over the manor is an ageing, authoritative thamburan, secretly a deceptive chaathan (goblin), who holds two helpless souls captive while dallying with a yakshi.
Mammootty swept the audiences away with one of the finest negative performances of his legendary career, and deservedly earned his fourth National Award for Best Actor.
Lokah: Chapter One – Chandra (2025)
Language: Malayalam
Where To Watch: JioHotstar
IMAGE: Kalyani Priyadarshan in Lokah: Chapter One — Chandra.
Dominic Arun struck cinematic gold with his ambitious breakout film by mining Kerala’s rich indigenous folklore and repackaging it into a homegrown superhero universe.
In ‘Chapter One’, the legendary, bloodthirsty spirit Kariyankattu Neeli is reimagined as a stylish, vampire-esque action heroine, played with enough charisma by Kalyani Priyadarshan.
What’s more, we have two confirmed future instalments teasing Tovino Thomas as a mischievous magical chaathan and Dulquer Salmaan as a shape-shifting, Blade-like odiyan assassin, and if everything hits fine, possibly one with Mammootty as Moothon the immortal elder.
Kantara: A Legend – Chapter 1 (2025)
Language: Kannada
Where To Watch: Prime Video
IMAGE: Rishabh Shetty in Kantara: A Legend – Chapter 1.
The prequel to Kantara dives headfirst into its deep forest roots, tracking a vengeful warrior chieftain who rallies his tribal fighters against a deceitful neighbouring kingdom.
Kantara: Chapter 1 leans even heavier into folklore than the original film. Aside from the protagonist channelling different divine entities, Rishab Shetty expands the mythological scale considerably, introducing ancient tribal rites and a terrifying brahmarakshasa into the fold while maintaining his ferocious screen presence.
Also watch out for Rukmini Vasanth’s seductively alluring performance as Princess Kanakavathi which becomes the movie’s surprise package.
Photographs curated by Satish Bodas/Rediff
