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In the Indian Hindi-language horror film Tumbbad(2018), the cursed grandmother who is chained and locked in a room needs to be fed everyday in order to keep her sleeping. But if she is not fed on time, she wakes up.

Also she could be put to sleep easily by saying,

"Sleep otherwise Hastar will come".

Hastar is a demon god whose touch cursed grandmother.

This line was used on cursed people to put them to sleep. Feeding cursed people was not an easy task as they were some 100 year old physically deformed and mentally unstable. They were cursed with eternal life and always hungry for food.

My question is, why do they need to feed her everyday when she could be put to sleep(not killing) by saying that one line?

It also happens later in the movie:

When Vinayak descends into secret chamber he finds Raghav touched/bitten/deformed by curse and slammed into chamber wall, he puts him to sleep by saying same line. Sleep Raghav, otherwise Hastar will come.

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  • is that line supposed to have limited usages? or that line may be supposed to use in emergencies. could be more valuable to use because it's usage is limited. with that, feeding may be just easier thing to do. please note I have no idea what that movie is and haven't watched it
    – Vishwa
    Jun 20, 2019 at 3:38
  • @Vishwa: Added information to question.
    – Rahul
    Jun 20, 2019 at 4:53

6 Answers 6

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The cursed woman who wakes and demands food every night is the great grandmother of the lord Sarkar:

Vinayak: She's Sarkar's great grandmother.
         I'm sure she knows something about the hidden treasure.

Vinayak's mother serves Sarkar, and Sarkar is Vinayak's father. It seems that (among other services) the lord expects Vinayak's mother to feed the cursed "grandmother" every night:

Mother:  You dare to swear at your father?
Vinayak: Tell him ... 
         We won't look after his old hag unless he gives us the coin.

So you could argue that the mother feeds the cursed woman partly because of family ties, but mostly because her lord demands this of her.

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  • I recon that. But my question is why she needs to be fed when she could be put to sleep by uttering one line, which later in the movie we saw works for everyone who is cursed.
    – Rahul
    Jul 21, 2019 at 21:23
  • Presumably because the lord Sarkar cares enough about his great grandmother to pity her hunger, and wants to see her fed every night. I don't believe the movie gives any more explicit confirmation about his motives.
    – Bobulous
    Jul 26, 2019 at 17:30
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Because family?

They never tried to kill her, even after she became monstororus still they are feeding her. That show affection to a family memer also rememeber she know about Hastar more then many, She is the reminder of what can go wrong.

So it's more like keeping a family memebr alive who know secrets of a treasure.

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  • I am not necessarily asking why she is kept alive.
    – Rahul
    Jun 21, 2020 at 5:39
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The first half of the movie Tumbbad(2018) revolves around the myth of hidden chamber and the treasure within. It's unknown where the chamber and treasure is.

The only person who knew about its location was the grandmother who was cursed, aged beyond hundred, physically deformed and probably diseased too. She was kept in an isolated room in a an old house which was away from main palace of local Lord, who was supposedly her son. None of the characters seem to have affection towards her.

I can think of two reasons why she was kept fed and awake:

  1. Because she knew the location of hidden chamber and how to access it. To reveal it she has to be awake. Putting her to sleep with one like Sleep or Hastar will come won't work.
  1. As Hastar was devoid from capturing all food by other Gods and cursed, he was always hungry. Due to his touch grandmother also inherited his curse, becoming deformed always hungry for food.
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Well, just like every other human being needs to feed his/her body, same way the grandmother was also a human being turned into a cursed human being with certain conditions like, more hungry, body defects, diseases etc. As far as Sleeping is concerned, unlike other human beings the cursed human beings can be put on sleep by uttering "Go to Sleep, otherwise Hastar will come". Now the thing is, the family members can put grandmother on sleep by uttering that line, for a certain period of time but in order to keep her alive they must have to feed her, I hope now it is understood !

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  • Hi, welcome to Movies & TV. Just to be clear, your answer is that she needs to be fed to be kept alive, correct?
    – DavidW
    Apr 1 at 18:35
  • She was immortal due to curse. There was no need to feed her like normal human beings.
    – Rahul
    Apr 5 at 23:09
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Because according to the story The demon or cursed God didn't get food only gold.... So he is always hungry when hastar bit anyone the person becomes cursed & his medium for food....... Indirectly demon eats from grandmother..... And keep her alive for it.

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  • My question is, why do they need to feed her everyday when she could be put to sleep by saying that one line?
    – Rahul
    Jul 24, 2019 at 19:31
  • Well because they were getting paid for it by Sarkar to take care of her , & she was their relative. As soon they abodoned her her body started searching for food and she become tree. They were doing what they were told by Sarkar... To feed her once a day.. They did not question him why ? They were poor people doing their job........ But you are doing.... "baal ki khal nikalana"
    – Buno9
    Jul 26, 2019 at 2:51
  • Asking a question on plot hole is not "baal ki khal nikalana"(English: nitpicking ) .My question is specific to how she was taken care of. If one line could maker her sleep without food then what was the need to prepare food if they were so poor ?
    – Rahul
    Jul 26, 2019 at 8:14
  • Answered already above..... Because without food for long time she had developed like tree.... They did not know what would happen if they stop . And they were getting paid for that, they were doing what they were told to that's how most people do, she was their source of income ........ It's not loophole at all. It's like somebody forcefully trying to find something.... Which is completely irrelevant.
    – Buno9
    Jul 27, 2019 at 9:28
  • You are not getting my point. Am asking what was need to feed when one line could make her sleep ? Just make her sleep by uttering one line.
    – Rahul
    Jul 27, 2019 at 19:30
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Probably because using that one line won't quench her hunger. She may fall asleep with that line, but she will still keep on growing into a tree if not fed. So to keep her limited in a human body it was necessary for her to get food on a regular basis.

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  • 1
    The growth of tree in house is because it was abandoned for at least 15 years.
    – Rahul
    Jun 19, 2020 at 6:09

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