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Five Indian films, serial on Mahatma Gandhi to be showcased at Toronto festival
India will have a presence at TIFF’s Primetime, which spotlights “exceptional international series and boundary-pushing episodic storytelling”
Toronto: Headlined by the cinematic epic Sholay, five Indian films and an upcoming serial on Mahatma Gandhi, will be showcased at the 50th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), which will begin on Thursday.
The highlight of the Indian presence will be a high-quality restoration of Sholay, which was released in 1975, the year TIFF came into being. But it’s not the only restoration that will be of interest to cineastes, as a digitally-restored version of Satyajit Ray’s 1970 Aranyer Din Ratri or Days and Nights in the Forest also features prominently at the 2025 edition of North America’s largest film festival.
As a clutch of Indian films premiere this year, TIFF’s director of programming Robyn Citizen wants the trend to continue in the years ahead. “We want more Indian films. We’re a year-round institution and we prioritise making space for Indian films that are new releases,” she said during the course of an interview at TIFF’s headquarters in downtown Toronto, Lightbox.
She pointed out Toronto has a huge diaspora population that “loves these films, comes from their communities and wants to see themselves represented, and we are the institution that is so happy to do that”.
India will have a presence at TIFF’s Primetime, which spotlights “exceptional international series and boundary-pushing episodic storytelling”.
On the 10th anniversary of this programme celebrating serialised storytelling, Gandhi, a series directed by Hansal Mehta and produced by Sameer Nair, will have its world premiere in Toronto. The series presents Mohandas Gandhi before he became the Mahatma as “a young man whose self-discovery and curiosity about the world would lead him to forever change it”, according to TIFF’s Primetime programmer Geoff Macnaughton.
Three features from India will have their world premieres at TIFF this year. Among them is Bayaan, directed by Bikash Ranjan Mishra and starring Huma Qureshi as a detective. In her description of the film, TIFF’s director of programming Robyn Citizen said, “Anchored by Qureshi’s restrained, emotionally layered performance, Bayaan asks not just what it takes to speak up, but what it costs.”
Jitank Singh Gurjar’s second feature, Vimukt or In Search of the Sky will also have its world premiere. With a rural backdrop and featuring a pilgrimage to the Maha Kumbh, Gurjar “turns our attention to deeply human, universally resonant themes: the crushing weight of poverty, the redemptive force of love, and the quiet resilience of personal faith,” Citizen noted.
Director Anurag Kashyap, a regular presence at TIFF, returns with his latest, Bandar or Monkey in a Cage, set against the #MeToo movement. “Riddled with suspense and shifting alliances, this is a story of love, lies, and responsibility that takes nothing for granted,” TIFF said of the film.
The festival runs from September 4 to 14.
