Anand Gandhi on shooting horror films: 'Colour system often-misunderstood science'

Anand Gandhi's film Tumbbad completes two years of its release. The periodic horror drama is directed by Rahi Anil Barve, alongside Anand Gandhi credited for being the creative director. The 2018's film stars Sohum Shah in the lead role. The maker of the film, Anand Gandhi recently shared his secrets of creating the epic horror film, Tumbbad.

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Anand Gandhi on shooting a horror film 

In an interview with Mid Day, Anand Gandhi shared the importance of the colour system while shooting the horror genre. He said colour systems are essential to any narrative but it is an often-misunderstood science. He further added that our minds have evolved to make specific relationships with colour, patterns, textures, and contrasts.

Sharing an example on this evolution, Anand said, this ability saved our lives in the past by being able to spot leopards hidden in the grass. Elaborating on his instance, Anand Gandhi stated that the human emotion to make specific relationships with colour, patterns, textures, and contrasts, doesn't always need black spots in yellow grass to be triggered. He said the same emotion can also be triggered by a misplaced pink blush on a child's smiling face while witnessing a beautiful bluebird bleeding and fluttering to its death. 

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Concluding his point about the colour system in horror films, Anand Gandhi said that horror can be created by pink, blue, and brightly saturated colours too. He added that horror is created by the meaning-making parts of brains and hence is driven by context. Talking about the film, the creator said that Tumbbad is an allegory for the horror of patriarchal power that centres on a Sarkar run by a toxic mix of consumerism (the foreign goods), greed (the gold), and intoxication (the opium). 

Tumbbad is also co-directed by Adesh Prasad. The film is penned by Mitesh Shah, Adesh Prasad, Rahi Barve, and Anand Gandhi. Tumbbad is bankrolled by Sohum Shah, Aanand L. Rai, Mukesh Shah and Amita Shah. It follows the story of the lead character, who sets out in search of a hidden treasure in the 20th century British India village of Tumbbad, Maharashtra.

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