Five Indian movies, including several that are planned to have their world premieres, will be featured in the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFFcomeback )’s in theatres in 2022.
Given the sizeable Indo-Canadian population in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), director Shubham Yogi’s debut film Kacchey Limbu will be one of the main draws for the community this year. Another attraction might be the film Zwigato by filmmaker Nandita Das, which portrays Indian comedian Kapil Sharma in the role of a food delivery app driver. TIFF characterises the movie as having a “realist style” and a critique of the gig economy in the context of the effects of the Covid-19 outbreak by capturing “an everyday man who begins to see the maddening cycle of star ratings and delivery quotas for the hollow incentives they are, slowly opening up to ideas about workers’ rights and solidarity”.
The festival will also feature the global premiere of the National Film Development Corporation of India and the National Film Archive of India’s high-quality digital restoration of the 1991 film Agantuk, the final work of legendary director Satyajit Ray.
Last but not least, To Kill A Tiger, a riveting documentary by New Delhi-born director Nisha Pahuja, is set in India even though it was technically produced in Canada. It follows a family in Jharkhand as they fight for justice after their 13-year-old daughter is sexually assaulted by three people. The movie is “troubling,” but it’s also “bold and, with its stunning finale, galvanising,” according to TIFF.
Three Indian films were screened at TIFF the previous year, but just one will be in 2020 due to Covid-19’s disruption, which forced the festival to go totally online. There were four Indian films in 2019 prior to the pandemic. The event runs from September 8 until September 18.
