Thamma
Thamma is a 2025 Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy horror film directed by Aditya Sarpotdar. It is written by Niren Bhatt, Suresh Mathew and Arun Falara and produced by Dinesh Vijan and Amar Kaushik. It is the fifth installment in the Maddock Horror Comedy Universe. It stars Ayushmann Khurrana, Rashmika Mandanna, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Paresh Rawal. The film follows a journalist who, after encountering a mysterious woman, turns into a vampiric creature called Betal and must save humanity from the bloodlust of an ancient sect.
Principal photography began in December 2024, primarily taking place in Delhi, Mumbai and Ooty and concluded by mid-2025. The soundtrack album was composed by Sachin–Jigar.
Thamma was theatrically released on 21 October 2025, coinciding with Diwali, in standard, IMAX, 4DX and D-Box formats. The film received mixed reviews from critics and was a moderate commercial success, becoming the tenth highest grossing Hindi film of 2025.
Plot
Alok Goyal is a struggling journalist. He attempts to fake a demon sighting in a graveyard but it backfires and he ends up getting mocked online as a meme. Undettered, he attempts to prove his courage during a camping trip with his friends by hiking into an unmarked trial and as a result, walks right into a bear which scares his friends away and begins to chase him. Just as the bear corners him, a mysterious woman named Tadaka rescues him. Alok faints from exhaustion and when he finally comes to inside an abandoned wrecked plane that serves as Tadaka's home, he instantly gets smitten by her, who tells him he still hasn't fully recovered, promising to drop him off personally when he has and to not go deep into the jungle again, especially at night, without her. Over the next few days, Alok notices that Tadaka doesn't act very normal as her physical prowess is beyond anything he's seen, she gives him whole raw animals whenever he's hungry and when she does find berries and other food for him to eat in the jungle, she refuses to eat it herself. However, he brushes it off. One night, Tadaka quietly vanishes and Alok sets off into the jungle again, ignoring her previous warnings and ends up getting knocked out by a group of men with whom he sees Tadaka arguing with. He's then dragged to a village, which is Tadaka's true home and inhabited by betaals-vampire like creatures. Tadaka pleads to let Alok go, swearing he knows nothing about them or her true identity and she hasn't told him anything either. She nearly convinces them but Alok, who's gone partially and temporarily deaf due to being knocked out so hard, gets confused and accidentally ends up insulting the betaals, not realizing they're not human, and is thrown into a cave in which a betaal name Yakshashan is chained in. Yakshashan nearly tricks Alok so he may bite him but he's saved at the last second by Tadaka. Furious, Yakshashan orders the same betaals who knocked Alok out to chase after them but they manage to evade them. Alok asks Tadaka to come with him and while she refuses at first, Alok reminds her that she promised to drop him off personally and that she won't let her get punished just to free him.They find a way to get back to Alok's parents's Delhi home. There is a mysterious enigma around her which leaves Alok's father suspicious. Tadaka becomes Tarika for Alok's parents, and she struggles to find sufficient food. Alok decides to take her out for dinner, where she can enjoy non-vegetarian food. At the party, she gets drunk and dances with unknown men. On their way home, the same group of men chase Alok and Tadaka, intent on assaulting her. Alok gets out of the car and attempts to solve the matter peacefully by talking. When he is unable to do so, Tadaka loses and unleashes upon them as a betaal. While she leaves them alive, they are then killed by Yakshasan's followers. Days later, a senior police officer who also happens to be a betaal visits Alok's residence and thinks Tadaka has killed the men, and that she has to leave for Alok's safety.
Alok chases her bus and when he is about to reunite with Tadaka, the car flips over and kills him. She saves his life by biting him, turning him into a betaal. Yakshasan senses the transformation and rejoices as he will soon be freed from the cave now that Tadaka has violated the rule that forbade betaals from turning humans, and the betaal criminal would take his place in captivity as punishment. Alok learns to control his new powers and navigate his new life as a betaal with Tadaka's help.
Alok's father notices his vampire-like teeth. When the truth is revealed to him, he refuses to accept it and takes his son to the exorcist Prabhakar, who tells him Alok's condition cannot be reversed. Janardhan "Jana" is also with Prabhakar, seeking help for his werewolf cousin Bhaskar, who was severely injured during the fight with Sarkata, a headless monster. Prabhakar says Bhaskar can be cured with the blood of a betaal. Bhaskar finds Alok and fights him, achieving a next level hybrid form with just one drop of Alok's blood. Tadaka comes to his rescue just in time. They then seek protection from Yadav, who takes them to the local betaal bar. It turns out to be a trap: they drug Alok then confront Tadaka for her violation and order her to leave town.
Tadaka surrenders to the sect and is put in captivity for breaking the sect's rule about drinking human blood. Alok finds his way to the land of the betaals where he and Yakshasan engage in a severe battle. Alok is beaten down and just as Yakshasan kills him, a miracle from their goddess brings him back to life. Alok gains the beating heart of the sect's deity, defeats Yakshasan with his new powers and becomes the new leader.
Yakshasan is put back in the cave but Sarkata, a strange rakshas without a head appears to free him. Alok, Tadaka and other heads of the sect gear up to hunt Yakshasan. Alok is informed that he would need extra powers to fight him and only the blood of a werewolf can do make him more powerful. Bhaskar, in his new werewolf form, heads towards the betaal sect's temple.
Cast
;Cameo appearances- Nora Fatehi as an unknown Betaal, and as the dancer from Stree film, referred to as "Chanderi Ki Rani"
- Malaika Arora
- Amar Kaushik
- Sathyaraj as Elvis Karim Prabhakar
- Abhishek Banerjee as Janardhan "Jana"
- Varun Dhawan as Bhaskar / Bhediya
- Sunil Kumar as Sarkata
Production
Development
In July 2022, Dinesh Vijan's next production venture was reported, which would have Ayushmann Khurrana and Samantha Ruth Prabhu, titled Vampires of Vijay Nagar, and was supposed to commence filming late in the year. However it was delayed as the makers considered the recently announced Stree 2 as their top priority. Later in April 2023, it was confirmed that filming will start at the end of the same year. In June 2023, Maddock announced 15 more films with VOV—Vampires of Vijay ''Nagar as one of them with the scope of expanding their horror-comedy universe, also developing a series of cinematic adaptations of the Arabian Nights.The film was then launched a year later in June 2024, with Khurrana and Rashmika Mandanna as the lead roles. The film was also teased in the post-credit scene of Stree 2. On the occasion of Diwali 2024, the announcement teaser of the film was released, revealing the title as Thama. Later, in September 2025, the title was renamed as Thamma, in accordance with numerology. Director Aditya Sarpotdar confirmed in an interview with Zoom'' that the film is not a horror-comedy like earlier installments of the Maddock Horror-Comedy Universe but rather a romantic comedy infused with supernatural and mythical elements rather than just rooted in folklore.
Casting
and Rashmika Mandanna were announced as the lead in June 2024. Nawazuddin Siddiqui joined the cast as the main antagonist in October 2024. Paresh Rawal also joined the cast for a supporting role in the same month. Malaika Arora and Nora Fatehi will make special appearances in the songs while Varun Dhawan made a cameo appearance in the film, reprising his role from Bhediya. Samantha Ruth Prabhu was originally cast as the lead actress but opted out due to being diagnosed with Myositis, even returning her signing pay.Filming
commenced in December 2024 in Chitra Studios, Mumbai. However, the shooting was delayed after Mandanna injured her leg. Later, filming resumed in March 2025 at Film City, Mumbai where sets that look like houses, streets and graveyards of Delhi were erected. In April 2025, filming moved to the forests of Ooty, Nilgiri hills and Dodabetta. Various portions of Siddiqui's character origin as how he became the vampire were also shot in Ooty. Khurrana, Mandanna and Siddiqui wrapped up their portions by May 2025. The special songs featuring Arora and Fatehi were filmed in July 2025. In the same month, Dhawan shot his cameo in six days.Music
The film's music was composed by Sachin–Jigar, with lyrics written by Amitabh Bhattacharya,The first single "Tum Mere Na Huye" was released on 29 September 2025. The second single "Dilbar Ki Aankhon Ka" released on 07 October 2025. The third single "Rahein Na Rahein Hum" released on 10 October 2025. The fourth single "Poison Baby" released on 13 October 2025.