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Two Indian films at TIFF focus on Covid’s impact on society
National Award-winning director Rima Das’ movie Tora’s Husband looks at layers of turmoil in a small town of Assam, while Nandita Das’ Zwigato focuses on the travails of a character in Bhubaneshwar, who loses his job to become app-based delivery driver
TORONTO: Two-and-a-half years after the global disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the subject has become the telling backdrop for two Indian films premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), exploring the social and mental toll it has taken.
National Award-winning director Rima Das’ movie Tora’s Husband, which looks at layers of turmoil in a small town of Assam, had its world premiere at TIFF on September 11. On Wednesday, Nandita Das’ Zwigato, focusing on the travails of a character in Bhubaneshwar, who loses his job as a factory floor manager to turn app-based delivery driver, will have its debut screening.
Rima Das’ film is also the first from India to be selected for the prestigious competition section at TIFF, Platform. In fact, she was planning a different film before the pandemic struck, but after being locked down for three months in Mumbai, she returned to her home in Assam, and this film evolved from her experience there.
“It’s representing that time and that’s important,” she said. She moved through multiple aspects of Covid’s impact, as the protagonist faces relationship issue with his wife and mother, has to deal with a restaurant-cum-bakery business struggling through restrictions, and mounting debt.
Rima Das said she was “exploring the internal emotional journey” in her latest project. TIFF programmer Ravi Srinivasan, in his description of the film, commented, “With careful attention paid to the unique pressure faced by small-business owners, Das’s purview extends beyond the middle class, capturing the crisis with impressive scope and documentary-like attentiveness, pointing to the societal fragilities that preceded - and will follow- the effects of the pandemic itself.”
Covid-19 restrictions also forced upon her casting choices like involving members of her family and neighbourhood as the principal characters. Her brother, Abhijit Das, plays the protagonist Jaan, with quiet intensity.
Meanwhile, Nandita Das’ film features comedian Kapil Sharma in a dramatic role. A release from the filmmakers said it “captures what an ‘ordinary’ family faces in the post-pandemic world. It is the story of relentless struggle of life, but not without shared moments of joy. It is like life - bitter-sweet.”
Rima Das not only directed, but also shot, edited and produced Tora’s Husband. And the stress of life during a pandemic was enhanced when her father passed away due to an unrelated cause. “It was not an easy journey,” she said, of completing her most challenging movie yet.
