“Tooth Pari: When Love Bites” is a supernatural love story that revolves around the chance encounter between Roy and Rumi. A courageous rebel vampire, Rumi, visits the dental clinic to fix her fang and meets Roy, a dentist suffering from hemophobia. They were poles apart (one feeds on blood, the other is repulsed by it, and one is a rebel, the other goes by the rules), but somehow they felt at ease with one another. And thus began an unusual love story that is layered with drama and magic.
Spoilers Ahead
Rumi and Roy
Rumi led a tragic life before becoming the rebellious vampire that she was. She fell head over heels in love during her college years but soon realized it was all a facade. Her boyfriend left her when she got pregnant, and she tried to abort the baby on her own. Rumi’s parents shamed her for her situation and later married her off to a man of their choice. Her husband regularly abused her, which completely broke her confidence. She was mentally and physically tired. Her second child died soon after she gave birth, and she could not live with herself after that. She decided to end her life and jumped off the Howrah Bridge. Luckily, David saw her commit suicide and immediately jumped into the river. He bit her underwater, and that was how Rumi, the brave vampire, was born.
Rumi’s fearlessness stemmed from the fact that she had seen the worst and that nothing scared her anymore. Her life was always dictated by men, and therefore, when she got a second chance at life, she only did what she wanted. She joined the Baghinis, the rebel gang, who went to the mortal world to quench their thirst for fresh blood. She was always careful about not harming any human beings; she simply wanted a small quantity of their blood to feel rejuvenated. After losing her tooth to a prosthetic neck, Rumi met Bikram Roy, a dentist, and aspiring cook. Unlike the men in her life, Roy was a soft-spoken, innocent man who never tried to overpower her. Rumi had a lot to be angry about, but when she was with Roy, she was at peace. Humans had betrayed her trust more than once, but Roy was different. With him, she wanted to be a better person—a better vampire. Even though his virgin blood enticed her, she was always careful not to hurt him.
Roy’s parents were impressed by their son’s choice. In his mother’s dream, Rumi visited her in the form of the goddess Kali. Roy’s mother was confident that Rumi was no ordinary woman; she was a divine being who must be welcomed into their house. She dressed Rumi as Goddess Kali, and she stepped out of the house in the red-bordered white saree and a garland around her neck. The moment she realized that Haru Babu was following her, she mercilessly attacked him and killed him on the spot. Her rage knew no bounds, just like the goddess. While Rumi’s pure intentions are yet to be explored, her battle with Luna Luka further revealed that she was indeed special. Rumi unlocked her dormant power during her battle with Luna. She was possessed with such strength that Luna had never seen before. The only difference between Rumi and the rest was that she was born underwater. The river Ganga has a role to play in the power that was bestowed upon Rumi.
Roy emerged from being a shy mama’s boy to someone who dared to walk into the “Neeche” even though he knew he would be killed if he came across a vampire. He risked his life for love, and he waited patiently for Rumi to free him when he was held captive. Even though Roy was never particular about what he wanted, he was quite confident about the life he hoped to live. He had the chance to be eternal, but instead, he preferred mortal life. He wanted to soak up the sun, pursue his interests, and grow old just like everyone else around him. Being immortal is tempting, but Roy proved that for him, the experience mattered more than the number of days he could spend alive. Hopefully, we will see more shades of Roy with his newfound confidence.
Kartik Pal
With an alcohol bottle always hidden in his drawer, Sub-Inspector Kartik Pal struggled to deal with his everyday life. He blamed his father for his misfortune; after all, it was his father’s claims that had turned him into a joke. During the Naxalite movement in West Bengal, vampires walked down the streets of Kolkata. They had spent days without any supplies of blood, and they were desperate to quench their thirst. They attacked the police station since that was the only place they could access human blood. Biren Pal had witnessed his colleagues die before his eyes. The silver chain around his neck protected him from the attack, and he lived to tell the stories of the night that nobody believed in anymore. The deaths of the police officers were blamed on the Naxals, and nobody investigated them. Kartik, too, did not believe in his father and was tired of the stories that the old man told. Nobody respected him at the station, and cases of the least importance were handed over to him. The attack on Badshah was one of the rejected cases that he undertook. And it was while investigating the case that he realized his father was an honest man, and the entire world was too blind to see it.
The first evidence he found was Rumi’s tooth, and he knew that a human tooth could never be as long as the one he retrieved from the scene. The death of Sreela further caught his attention. Her body was decapitated, and after conducting a genome test, he learned that she had consumed various blood types, her skin was photosensitive, and the way her cells transformed implied that she was immortal. While investigating the case, he fell in love with Rumi, thinking that she was just the dentist’s girlfriend. He instead doubted Roy’s involvement in Sreela’s murder, but he could not prove his theory. When the officer in charge questioned him about the case, he barely had anything that seemed remotely believable. All that he had seen was not enough to prove his theory. He was suspended from his position for being a complete failure. That night, when he returned home, he had given up on himself.
Unexpectedly, it was his father who brought a glimmer of hope into his life. He mentioned seeing Rumi with her fangs. Kartik studied the CCTV footage at Roy’s clinic and realized that he had been suspicious of the wrong person all along. He could have held Rumi captive and tried to destroy her life, yet he chose to cooperate with her. Instead of delivering Rumi to the Cutmudus, he decided to hold a press conference and prove to the world that he and his father were not mad; they could see what the world refused to acknowledge. Kartik later offered Rumi his blood when she was losing her strength while fighting Luna Luka. His love for Rumi never died, but at the same time, Kartik was glad that he could win back his respect with her help. Even though she was a vampire, her intention was never to harm anyone. Kartik was promoted to the position of officer-in-charge after his groundbreaking investigation, and he finally found some peace in his life.
Luna Luka
A theater practitioner turned witch; Luna Luka was proud of her power. She could never get over the brutality that the vampires once displayed, and she believed that killing them was the only option. She and other mortals formed the Cutmundus in the 1970s to defend humans against the “monsters.” She always derived pleasure from torturing vampires, and when she was informed that they had trespassed into the mortal world once again, she was ready to teach them a lesson. While Luna’s intentions initially seemed to be purely for the welfare of the people, it is later revealed that her hatred towards the vampires stemmed from a sad past. She was in love with Rama during her theater days, but his obsession with preserving his beauty tore them apart. His desire to be a 20-something for life consumed him, and he decided to turn into a vampire. But the irony was that a vampire was invisible to the camera; therefore, his dream of becoming an actor remained unfulfilled.
After discovering their love story, Rumi tried to use it against Luna, but it did not work. She was no longer a young girl madly in love; she could predict danger and had learned to defend herself. Even though it pained her, she chose to kill Rama before it was too late. Luna Luka was killed by Rumi in the end. She was startled to see the power Rumi exhibited, and before dying, she realized that she was being killed by someone extraordinary. Even though Luna could not kill Rumi, she left behind a legacy and a new group of young followers, now more determined than ever to seek revenge.
Final Words
The motives behind the central characters in “Tooth Pari” were well defined, though those of the supporting characters remain unexplored. Maybe in the next season, we will learn more about David and Meera and their journey into the world of vampires. We also do not know much about Ora, and with his powers, he, too, can become an important character in the next season. Badshah will continue to be the middleman, but we all know that such people are usually treated the worst in the end. What will happen to Rumi and Roy in the end, and whether or not Kartik will support Rumi’s entry into the “Upar” will hopefully be answered in the next season.
