The Fable
2025·Drama·1h 59m
7.1
★
In the late 1980s in the Himalayas, a man's life is turned upside down by a series of mysterious fires destroying his fruit orchards. As he struggles to stop the outbreaks, the escalating mystery forces him to confront not only the truth behind the blazes but also the long-hidden secrets of his family and his own past.
Directed by Raam Reddy
Trailer
IMDB
N/A
Where to Watch
Cast
Manoj Bajpayee
Dev
Priyanka Bose
Nandini
Deepak Dobriyal
Mohan
Tillotama Shome
Radha
Crew
Raam Reddy
Director
Raam Reddy
Screenplay
Raam Reddy
Original Music Composer
Raam Reddy
Editor
Guneet Monga
Executive Producer
Anurag Kashyap
Executive Producer
Varun Grover
Dialogue
Himanshu Kamble
Colorist
Popular Reviews
15 reviews
Meet Mewada
6.0★ · 05/17/26
Gorgeous Visuals, Sluggish Screenplay.
Visually stunning, but the screenplay misses a few marks and becomes dull at points. Loved the ending, but still wanted to love the film more as a whole. It has its moments, though they are limited.
Manoj Bajpayee shines as always, and the supporting cast does well too. Loved the special appearance too. There is a strong sense of realism in how the film looks, feels and sounds. The use of real locations and locals from the village adds to that authenticity beautifully. The VFX is amazing, and the fact that it was shot on 16mm film makes it look truly stunning.
The only thing pulling the film down is the lack of content and pacing in the screenplay. The story being told is quite interesting and works beautifully as a fable, but that is exactly the point, fables are short. Here it is the opposite, we spend too much time for a very limited amount of actual story. The director gets a bit indulgent overall, which causes the screenplay to drag and take too long to set things up and execute them towards the end. A tighter edit at around 90 minutes instead of 119 would have served it much better. That alone could have made this a great film.
Visually stunning, but the screenplay misses a few marks and becomes dull at points. Loved the ending, but still wanted to love the film more as a whole. It has its moments, though they are limited.
Manoj Bajpayee shines as always, and the supporting cast does well too. Loved the special appearance too. There is a strong sense of realism in how the film looks, feels and sounds. The use of real locations and locals from the village adds to that authenticity beautifully. The VFX is amazing, and the fact that it was shot on 16mm film makes it look truly stunning.
The only thing pulling the film down is the lack of content and pacing in the screenplay. The story being told is quite interesting and works beautifully as a fable, but that is exactly the point, fables are short. Here it is the opposite, we spend too much time for a very limited amount of actual story. The director gets a bit indulgent overall, which causes the screenplay to drag and take too long to set things up and execute them towards the end. A tighter edit at around 90 minutes instead of 119 would have served it much better. That alone could have made this a great film.
Gorgeous Visuals, Sluggish Screenplay.
Visually stunning, but the screenplay misses a few marks and becomes dull at points. Loved the ending, but still wanted to love the film more as a whole. It has its moments, though they are limited.
Manoj Bajpayee shines as always, and the supporting cast does well too. Loved the special appearance too. There is a strong sense of realism in how the film looks, feels and sounds. The use of real locations and locals from the village adds to that authenticity beautifully. The VFX is amazing, and the fact that it was shot on 16mm film makes it look truly stunning.
The only thing pulling the film down is the lack of content and pacing in the screenplay. The story being told is quite interesting and works beautifully as a fable, but that is exactly the point, fables are short. Here it is the opposite, we spend too much time for a very limited amount of actual story. The director gets a bit indulgent overall, which causes the screenplay to drag and take too long to set things up and execute them towards the end. A tighter edit at around 90 minutes instead of 119 would have served it much better. That alone could have made this a great film.
Visually stunning, but the screenplay misses a few marks and becomes dull at points. Loved the ending, but still wanted to love the film more as a whole. It has its moments, though they are limited.
Manoj Bajpayee shines as always, and the supporting cast does well too. Loved the special appearance too. There is a strong sense of realism in how the film looks, feels and sounds. The use of real locations and locals from the village adds to that authenticity beautifully. The VFX is amazing, and the fact that it was shot on 16mm film makes it look truly stunning.
The only thing pulling the film down is the lack of content and pacing in the screenplay. The story being told is quite interesting and works beautifully as a fable, but that is exactly the point, fables are short. Here it is the opposite, we spend too much time for a very limited amount of actual story. The director gets a bit indulgent overall, which causes the screenplay to drag and take too long to set things up and execute them towards the end. A tighter edit at around 90 minutes instead of 119 would have served it much better. That alone could have made this a great film.
Spider-Man
10.0★ · 04/08/26
What a movie!!!
This might be one of the best Bollywood movies ever made - visually.
The cinematography was amazing.
There is a one-take shot at the beginning of the film which is so good.
The movie is quite risky in terms of its storytelling—it never spoon feeds you anything. A few elements of the story, especially the ending, are left open ended, and the viewers are challenged on an intellectual level to fill in those gaps. I have rarely seen Bollywood movies take such risks—which is indeed commendable.
The acting performances by Manoj Vajpayee, Deepak Dobriyal, Tillotama Shome, and the villagers were great.
The movie is quite layered - it has themes of nature exploitation, class differences, government control, gentrification, superstitious beliefs, and the interplay of magic and realism.
The movie is a slow burn, so pacing can be an issue for some members of the audience.
Overall, a really good watch for cinephiles
This might be one of the best Bollywood movies ever made - visually.
The cinematography was amazing.
There is a one-take shot at the beginning of the film which is so good.
The movie is quite risky in terms of its storytelling—it never spoon feeds you anything. A few elements of the story, especially the ending, are left open ended, and the viewers are challenged on an intellectual level to fill in those gaps. I have rarely seen Bollywood movies take such risks—which is indeed commendable.
The acting performances by Manoj Vajpayee, Deepak Dobriyal, Tillotama Shome, and the villagers were great.
The movie is quite layered - it has themes of nature exploitation, class differences, government control, gentrification, superstitious beliefs, and the interplay of magic and realism.
The movie is a slow burn, so pacing can be an issue for some members of the audience.
Overall, a really good watch for cinephiles
What a movie!!!
This might be one of the best Bollywood movies ever made - visually.
The cinematography was amazing.
There is a one-take shot at the beginning of the film which is so good.
The movie is quite risky in terms of its storytelling—it never spoon feeds you anything. A few elements of the story, especially the ending, are left open ended, and the viewers are challenged on an intellectual level to fill in those gaps. I have rarely seen Bollywood movies take such risks—which is indeed commendable.
The acting performances by Manoj Vajpayee, Deepak Dobriyal, Tillotama Shome, and the villagers were great.
The movie is quite layered - it has themes of nature exploitation, class differences, government control, gentrification, superstitious beliefs, and the interplay of magic and realism.
The movie is a slow burn, so pacing can be an issue for some members of the audience.
Overall, a really good watch for cinephiles
This might be one of the best Bollywood movies ever made - visually.
The cinematography was amazing.
There is a one-take shot at the beginning of the film which is so good.
The movie is quite risky in terms of its storytelling—it never spoon feeds you anything. A few elements of the story, especially the ending, are left open ended, and the viewers are challenged on an intellectual level to fill in those gaps. I have rarely seen Bollywood movies take such risks—which is indeed commendable.
The acting performances by Manoj Vajpayee, Deepak Dobriyal, Tillotama Shome, and the villagers were great.
The movie is quite layered - it has themes of nature exploitation, class differences, government control, gentrification, superstitious beliefs, and the interplay of magic and realism.
The movie is a slow burn, so pacing can be an issue for some members of the audience.
Overall, a really good watch for cinephiles
Sidd
9.0★ · 04/06/26
The movie being shot completely on film makes a real difference compared to modern Indian cinema, and honestly, world cinema in general. We’ve grown used to oversaturated colors and overly lit frames that we’ve almost forgotten how films used to feel. In The Fable, the desaturated, high-contrast frames somehow still feel incredibly colorful.
The forest shots completely blew me away. This movie feels like memories unfolding, and that’s exactly how the story is presented. It feels as if the events are being narrated from the point of view of a much older character in the film, recalling the past like fragments of memory.
The framing, direction, and writing are some of the strongest I’ve seen in recent times. The dreamlike scenes were genuinely impressive and reinforced the feeling that we weren’t just watching events, but remembering them.
The forest shots completely blew me away. This movie feels like memories unfolding, and that’s exactly how the story is presented. It feels as if the events are being narrated from the point of view of a much older character in the film, recalling the past like fragments of memory.
The framing, direction, and writing are some of the strongest I’ve seen in recent times. The dreamlike scenes were genuinely impressive and reinforced the feeling that we weren’t just watching events, but remembering them.
The movie being shot completely on film makes a real difference compared to modern Indian cinema, and honestly, world cinema in general. We’ve grown used to oversaturated colors and overly lit frames that we’ve almost forgotten how films used to feel. In The Fable, the desaturated, high-contrast frames somehow still feel incredibly colorful.
The forest shots completely blew me away. This movie feels like memories unfolding, and that’s exactly how the story is presented. It feels as if the events are being narrated from the point of view of a much older character in the film, recalling the past like fragments of memory.
The framing, direction, and writing are some of the strongest I’ve seen in recent times. The dreamlike scenes were genuinely impressive and reinforced the feeling that we weren’t just watching events, but remembering them.
The forest shots completely blew me away. This movie feels like memories unfolding, and that’s exactly how the story is presented. It feels as if the events are being narrated from the point of view of a much older character in the film, recalling the past like fragments of memory.
The framing, direction, and writing are some of the strongest I’ve seen in recent times. The dreamlike scenes were genuinely impressive and reinforced the feeling that we weren’t just watching events, but remembering them.
Adil Sayyad
7.0★ · 02/03/26
Fable is an attempt at magical realism that might leave you scratching your head or digging underneath its layers to find its hidden meaning.
We meet Dev (Manoj Bajpayee), a rich landowner, who lives with his family in the Himalayas. Ram Reddy makes him distinct from everyone around him, perhaps to emphasize that he is an outsider and his family doesn’t belong. One morning, he notices a tree being burnt, and day by day, the fire continues to consume more trees without any apparent rhyme or reason.
What is Fable actually about? Is it about landowners exploiting the working class? Is it perhaps a tale about how rich Indians are doing the same thing that was once done by the colonial power? There are more layers to this as we see Nandini (Priyanka Bose), Dev’s wife, who is blessed with a divine voice but chooses to stay silent. Is that a metaphor for silence being complicity? Or an attempt to showcase different kinds of oppression? It’s all on your interpretation of the film.
The film occasionally switches to sequences shot on film, which has the imperfect grainy quality that gives the film a perception of a fairytale, that you are witnessing a story that has been locked away in some old, dusted chest. Ram Reddy does a beautiful job of embedding magical realism in the film and makes you wonder what he is trying to say with this.
We meet Dev (Manoj Bajpayee), a rich landowner, who lives with his family in the Himalayas. Ram Reddy makes him distinct from everyone around him, perhaps to emphasize that he is an outsider and his family doesn’t belong. One morning, he notices a tree being burnt, and day by day, the fire continues to consume more trees without any apparent rhyme or reason.
What is Fable actually about? Is it about landowners exploiting the working class? Is it perhaps a tale about how rich Indians are doing the same thing that was once done by the colonial power? There are more layers to this as we see Nandini (Priyanka Bose), Dev’s wife, who is blessed with a divine voice but chooses to stay silent. Is that a metaphor for silence being complicity? Or an attempt to showcase different kinds of oppression? It’s all on your interpretation of the film.
The film occasionally switches to sequences shot on film, which has the imperfect grainy quality that gives the film a perception of a fairytale, that you are witnessing a story that has been locked away in some old, dusted chest. Ram Reddy does a beautiful job of embedding magical realism in the film and makes you wonder what he is trying to say with this.
Fable is an attempt at magical realism that might leave you scratching your head or digging underneath its layers to find its hidden meaning.
We meet Dev (Manoj Bajpayee), a rich landowner, who lives with his family in the Himalayas. Ram Reddy makes him distinct from everyone around him, perhaps to emphasize that he is an outsider and his family doesn’t belong. One morning, he notices a tree being burnt, and day by day, the fire continues to consume more trees without any apparent rhyme or reason.
What is Fable actually about? Is it about landowners exploiting the working class? Is it perhaps a tale about how rich Indians are doing the same thing that was once done by the colonial power? There are more layers to this as we see Nandini (Priyanka Bose), Dev’s wife, who is blessed with a divine voice but chooses to stay silent. Is that a metaphor for silence being complicity? Or an attempt to showcase different kinds of oppression? It’s all on your interpretation of the film.
The film occasionally switches to sequences shot on film, which has the imperfect grainy quality that gives the film a perception of a fairytale, that you are witnessing a story that has been locked away in some old, dusted chest. Ram Reddy does a beautiful job of embedding magical realism in the film and makes you wonder what he is trying to say with this.
We meet Dev (Manoj Bajpayee), a rich landowner, who lives with his family in the Himalayas. Ram Reddy makes him distinct from everyone around him, perhaps to emphasize that he is an outsider and his family doesn’t belong. One morning, he notices a tree being burnt, and day by day, the fire continues to consume more trees without any apparent rhyme or reason.
What is Fable actually about? Is it about landowners exploiting the working class? Is it perhaps a tale about how rich Indians are doing the same thing that was once done by the colonial power? There are more layers to this as we see Nandini (Priyanka Bose), Dev’s wife, who is blessed with a divine voice but chooses to stay silent. Is that a metaphor for silence being complicity? Or an attempt to showcase different kinds of oppression? It’s all on your interpretation of the film.
The film occasionally switches to sequences shot on film, which has the imperfect grainy quality that gives the film a perception of a fairytale, that you are witnessing a story that has been locked away in some old, dusted chest. Ram Reddy does a beautiful job of embedding magical realism in the film and makes you wonder what he is trying to say with this.
Susan
9.0★ · 01/26/26
Beautiful
Beautiful