Director Rahi Anil Barve said the title is derived from Shripad Narayan Pendse's Marathi novel Tumbadche Khot.[7] He wrote the first draft in 1997, when he was 18 years old. From 2009 to 2010, he created a 700-page storyboard within eight months, which he said was the "anchor on which everything was based."[8] Barve wrote the script based on a story his friend had told when they were in the Nagzira wildlife sanctuary in 1993 "which made him crap his pants."[9] It was a story by Marathi writer Narayan Dharap. Years later, when he revisited Dharap's story, he found it "utterly bland, mundane and forgettable."[9] He realised "it was my friend's narration... that left an indelible print- no, scar on my psyche" which "kept the story alive."[9] Barve took the story's basic premise about a scheming moneylender and another of his works, about a girl left alone with her grandmother who is possessed by a demon, and began writing a screenplay.[10] He managed to find a producer, but they backed out in 2008. He obtained financing and principal photography began in the monsoon of 2012.[7]

Tumbbad ? Title Track (From Tumbbad) M4A