Toronto film fest to have strong Indian flavour

Mumbai, The forthcoming Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), starting Sep 10, will have a strong Indian presence — while two mainstream Bollywood films “Dil Bole Hadippa” and “What’s Your Rashee?” will have their world premieres, Dilip Mehta’s “Cooking With Stella” has been selected for a screening in the prestigious Gala section.

Jon Amiel’s “Creation”, a bio-pic on Charles Darwin, is also being premiered in the same section where Dilip’s film is being screened and he says he is thrilled by the honour.

“The Toronto International Film Festival is, after Cannes, undoubtedly the most significant festival worldwide. To have one’s film participate in it is glory enough, but to have a gala screening and a world premiere is mind-blowing,” Dilip, brother of Canada-based Indian filmmaker Deepa Mehta, told IANS.

“For me, as first-time feature director this was such a tremendous high to have our film in the company of such an amazing film. ‘Creation’ nipped us all in the post but we were right up there. TIFF selected ‘Cooking With Stella’ for a gala screening for our world premiere on September 16th.

“The numbers are daunting. Approximately 3,000 plus films are submitted for the festival. Of these about 350 are selected of which 15 or so have the distinction of a gala screening at the amazing Roy Thomson Hall,” he added.

This was the very section where Deepa’s elegiac “Water” that had Lisa Ray, John Abraham and Seema Biswas in lead roles had been premiered. While “Water” focussed on the difficult lives of widows in the 1930s, Dilip’s film is in a different mood space.

“For 34 years, I have covered death, misfortune, war, plagues and other human tragedies for Time, Newsweek, National Geographic and other such major journals. I entered the world of cinema with ‘The Forgotten Woman’, a hard documentary to portray the reality of the widows of India.

“Similarly ‘Cooking With Stella’ also looks at a classic Indian tragedy, that of servants and employers but without wanting to give a lecture on morality.”

While filmmaker Ashutosh Gowariker’s “What’s Your Raashee?” stars Priyanka Chopra and Hurman Baweja, “Dil Bole Hadippa” is Anurag Singh’s directorial debut. Produced by Yash Raj Films, it stars Rani Mukerji and Shahid Kapoor. Both the films are female-centric.

Apart from screenings, Indian actresses Seema Biswas and Shriya Saran will walk the red carpet.

Two Bollywood films to be premiered at Toronto film fest

Toronto, Yash Raj Films’ “Dil Bole Hadippa” and Ashutosh Gowariker’s “What’s Your Rashee?” will have their world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) here in September, organisers have announced.

The world’s biggest audience-based film festival runs Sep 10-19.

Set for release Sep 18 in India, “Dil Bole Hadippa” is directed by Anurag Singh. It is a hilarious drama-comedy with Shahid Kapoor (Rohan) and Rani Mukherjee (Veera Kaur) in lead roles.

It also features Anupam Kher, Dalip Tahil, Rakhee Sawant and Sherlyn Chopra.

The highlights of the film include Veera Kaur putting on a turban and beard and becoming Veer Pratap Singh to play cricket in a village where girls are forbidden from playing the sport.

Her performance earns her a place in Rohan’s team, kicking off their roller-coaster journey filled with music, romance and comedy through Punjab and beyond, said a statement by the organisers here.

“What’s Your Rashee?”, directed by Ashutosh Gowariker, is another Indian film making its international premiere at the festival.

Based on the Gujarati novel “Kimball Ravenswood” by Madhu Arya, this romantic comedy stars Priyanka Chopra and her former beau Harman Baweja.

Its storyline revolves around a young man who has always wanted to marry for love. When he is suddenly told that he must find his dream girl within 10 days to save his family from ruin, he discovers that finding her in a hurry is tough.

Deepa Mehta’s “Heaven on Earth” had its world premiere at the festival last year. Anees Bazmee’s hit “Singh is Kinng” and Nandita Das’s directorial debut “Firaaq” also had their gala premiere last year.

Called a people’s festival as opposed to industry-based Cannes, the Toronto festival generates revenue by selling over 300,000 tickets each year.

Last year, more than 300 films from 64 countries were screened at the festival which has become a major global film festival since its beginning in 1976.