“Greed” Semiotic Analysis of the Movie “Tumbbad” (2018)

Abstract

“Tumbbad” (2018) is an Indian horror film directed by Rahi Anil Barve. The film introduces a young boy named Vinayak who is very curious in finding the golden treasure which is said to be located in the village named Tumbbad in Maharashtra. Semiotics was chosen as a methodology to analyse the signs in the horror film “Tumbadd” (2018) using Saussure’s theory of signifiers and the signified. This study focuses on the core variable “Greed” in which “Gold coin” is the source of greed. The direct and indirect visual cues related to greed are selected and interpreted as signifiers and signified. Gold coin is identified as a key signifier which is spoken throughout the movie. The greed for gold starts with Hastar, son of Goddess Purti ki Devi and it moves to Vinayak the hero of the film and it ends with his son Pandurang.  Another key signifier is flour doll which is used to feed Hastar to collect the gold.  The signifiers in the film relates to greediness and accumulation of wealth and in the climax Vinayak and his son Pandurang who is also smitten by greed attempts to collect more gold coins by offering more flour dolls. Hastar multiplies when the number of flour doll increases which signifies that a person possessed with greed can never be satisfied and his greed multiplies which is destructive. Analysis of mis-en-scene showed six set designs, twenty properties, four camera angles, four lightings, six colour tones and nine costumes as signifiers. The climax of the film closes with contentment and greed is dead and locked inside which is expressed through semiotics.