India, July 29 -- F ilmmaker Aanand L Rai has confirmed that he is not associated with the upcoming Tumbbad 2, citing creative reasons. The horror-thriller, which gained cult status after its re-release last year, is being produced by Sohum Shah and stars Alia Bhatt. Explaining his absence from the project, Rai, who produced the 2018 film, says, "For some reason nahin, aur woh creative reasons hain. What you want is a certain kind of freedom to make decisions when you are creating something." Calling Tumbbad "a fantastic film", he adds, "Mere liye, woh kahani jitni khoobsurat hoke wahaan pahunchi hui thi, main uske aage nahin jaana chah raha tha. But all the best to the team who is making it now. They will make a great film, but I keep the decision to myself what film I want to join." Rai, who recently won a National Award for the documentary Statue Of Unity: Ekta Ka Prateek, says the honour has reinforced his interest in non-feature storytelling. "Awards and rewards sar aankhon par, but it's the love and being a vessel of a poignant story that matters to me. This kind of an award gives you confidence that your existence matters," he says. The filmmaker plans to begin work on his next directorial in 2027, with a possible release by the end of that year or in 2028. He adds that Indian filmmakers need to explore documentaries more deeply: "We need to learn more in the non-feature category. It's a different form of storytelling and the filmmakers in our industry need to learn a lot more when it comes to this form," he ends....