India, Feb. 1 -- IN A FAIR WORLD, someone who made Tumbbad, a fantastical film on greed, wouldn't have to wait nearly a decade to make his next feature. In a fair world, the filmmaker wouldn't have several projects on the back burner, battling uncertain fate. But such a world doesn't exist, and Rahi Anil Barve is not just aware of this; he is subjected to it and through his films, he has made an art out of it. His sophomore film is posited in a similar universe of avarice.

There are more similarities. Like Tumbbad, Mayasabha: The Hall of Illusion is a startlingly original film with its own language and worldbuilding, and like the 2018 outing, greed is placed at the centre both as a site of seduction and the reason for undoing. Barve also...