By Renu Mehta
Toronto
The 49th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) runs September 5-15 this year. Several South Asian films will be showcased at this prestigious festival including the World Gala premiere of Superboys of Malegaon directed by Reema Kagti and produced by Zoya Akhtar.
Masala – Sept. 6 at 7 pm – TIFF Bell Lightbox
Srinivas Krishna’s debut film is a bold, irreverent take on maintaining multiple identities that follows a recovering heroin addict attempting to make peace with his extended family.
The story follows Krishna orphaned as a teen when his parents died in the 1985 Air India bombing. Now a recovering heroin addict, Krishna returns to reconcile with his extended family, but is challenged by his inability to conform to their expectations of respectability.
Boong – Sept. 7 at 3:45 pm – Scotiabank Theatre
School boy Boong (Gugun Kipgen) doesn’t see long distances and state borders as significant obstacles. At least not when it comes to giving his mother, Mandakini (Bala Hijam), the best surprise gift ever: bringing back his father, Joykumar. After leaving their home city of Manipur, India for the border city of Moreh, near Myanmar, in search of better job opportunities, Joykumar has stopped communications with the family. With rumours spreading about his father’s death, Boong refuses to accept that grim possibility and teams up with his best friend, Raju (Angom Sanamatum), an outsider from Rajasthan, to search for the truth.
Shook – Sept. 7 – 5:15 pm – Scotiabank Theatre
Struggling writer Ashish is thrown for several loops when he falls for barista Claire and learns his estranged father has just been diagnosed with Parkinson’s, in Amar Wala’s first dramatic feature.
The film is set in an instantly recognizable Scarborough, a place Ash is proud to call home even as he constantly flees into the city to write in coffee shops or go clubbing with his friends — until his father’s health crisis requires him to recalibrate both their lives.
Saba – Sept. 7 – 5:45 pm – Scotiabank Theatre
In his deeply emotional directorial debut, Bangladeshi filmmaker Maksud Hossain refracts end-of-life care through two completely opposite views held within a fraught mother–daughter relationship.
With her father missing, Saba (Mehazabien Chowdhury) is the sole caregiver to her paraplegic mother, Shirin (Rokeya Prachy), who suffers from acute heart disease. Although Shirin’s condition binds them together, her frustration with their situation often manifests as bitterness and anger towards her daughter, so they live in their own separate worlds. When Shirin has a heart attack, Saba races against time to sell their home, lowering the price, and even risking her burgeoning romance with her senior co-worker Ankur (Mostafa Monwar) — who dreams of starting a new life abroad — to pay for her mom’s heart surgery.
Tara and Akash – Sept 7 at 9:30 pm – TIFF Bell Lightbox
Tara, a spirited 22-year-old, defies her protective parents to embark on a solo trip to Switzerland, inspired by an old romance novel that comforted her after her grandmother’s death. During her journey, she meets Akash, a mysterious young man who is not just an ordinary stranger but a Light being from another realm, unaware of his true purpose on Earth. As they explore Switzerland’s picturesque landscapes, a deep connection forms between them, entwined with the novel Tara treasures. With the help of a reclusive man named Hanumant, they discover that their love story was written by God Himself, the Author of all destinies. As they unravel this divine mystery, Tara and Akash realize their time together may be limited, and their love is part of a higher purpose that transcends the boundaries of time and space.
All We Imagine as Light – Sept. 11 – 2:45 pm – TIFF Bell Lightbox
Payal Kapadia’s feature follows two nurses experiencing personal turning points tinged with the possibility of romance.
Prabha (Kani Kusruti) and Anu (Divya Prabha) are roommates and nurses at a Mumbai hospital. Prabha is married, but her husband went abroad to work many years ago. Now drifting into middle age, she focuses on her job. Anu, by contrast, is young and full of dreams for her future, which she hopes will include the handsome Muslim boy she’s secretly seeing. Prabha initially regards the potentially scandalous affair as an annoyance, but she comes to sympathize with Anu’s passion, perhaps because she, too, feels the tug of frustrated ardour, thanks to the attentions of a poetry-writing doctor.
The film shows a heartfelt connection between Prabha and Anu and their sisterhood emerges slowly.
Santosh – Sept. 13 – 8:30 pm – Scotiabank Theatre
Filmmaker Sandhya Suri’s searing narrative debut follows a young housewife (Shahana Goswami) widowed when her police constable husband is killed on the job. Through a government initiative, she is trained to take his place in a male police station in rural North India.
Against Santosh’s urging, her superior cruelly dismisses a low-caste father’s attempt to file a missing report on his teen daughter. The discovery of the girl’s body ignites protests in her community. In response to the negative publicity, the department recruits female inspector Sharma (Sunita Rajwar) to lead the investigation. Santosh is immediately fascinated by Sharma’s ability to ingratiate herself into the masculine culture of the station while remaining a fierce advocate against gendered violence in public. Sharma, meanwhile, spots Santosh’s keen intelligence and ambition and offers to mentor her.
Superboys of Malegaon – September 13 at 9:30 pm – Roy Thomson Hall
Directed by Reema Kagti; Produced by Zoya Akhtar
The 127 minute film in Hindi arriving straight from India, is an uplifting story that chronicles the life of Nasir Shaikh, whose no-budget, community-sourced movies turned his hometown Malegaon into an unlikely dream factory.
Based on a true story and directed by Reema Kagti, the film is an ode to tenacity, self-actualization and the sheer fun of film making.
The year is 1997 and movie mad Nasir (Adarsh Gaurav, WhiteTiger) is certain he’s destined for cinematic greatness, but great cinema never came out of his humdrum hometown of Malegaon. Nasir gets his first taste of success screening mashups of Buster Keaton and Jackie Chan action sequences, leading him toward a bright idea: if Malegaon moviegoers love revisiting the classics, wouldn’t they flock to see classics reimagined on their own turf? Borrowing gear from a wedding videographer and assembling a cast and crew of locals, Nasir sets out to remake Ramesh Sippy’s beloved 1975 film Sholay. Nasir’s campy, go-for-broke vision is a regional smash, and a glittering new road seems open before him. But his journey will prove arduous, requiring him to check his ego and recognize that the friendships that helped him start
Written by Kagti and Varun Grover (Three of Us) follows Nasir and his buddies over several years, tracking their joys, sorrows, and twists of fate. Brimming with comedy, adventure, and colourful characters, the film is a testament to the wonders that can be achieved when imagination is matched with resourcefulness and loyalty.
Little Jaafna – Sept. 14 – 5:30 pm – Royal Alexandra theatre
Lawrence Valin’s feature debut is a crime drama that tells the story of Michael, a young police officer from a Tamil family, living in Paris, as he’s tasked with infiltrating a local criminal enterprise that’s funneling money to the Eelam liberation movement back home in Sri Lanka.
