Vampires, in director Aditya Sarpotdar’s mind, were an out-and-out Western concept. Think biting cold, dark nights, Gothic architecture, all lending mood to the legend. But he was in for a surprise. “When we were researching, we realised that the idea of betaals preceded the concept of vampires. There are several articles referencing how the Western vampire might have been an offshoot of the betaal idea from the Indian subcontinent,” he shares. That seeded the idea of his vampire dramedy, Thamma. 

The Ayushmann Khurrana, Rashmika Mandanna, and Nawazuddin Siddiqui-starrer is the latest addition to the Maddock Horror Comedy Universe (MHCU). As he set out to create an Indian world of vampires, Sarpotdar took inspiration from the classic Hindi TV serial, Vikram Aur Betaal. “Betaal there was quirky, smart, and cunning. He used to pose riddles to Vikram, then let out a distinct laugh and disappear. Nawaz’s character is, in many ways, modelled on that version. He is mischievous, unpredictable, and a bit mad,” he says.