Web Desk
Toronto: Three Indian movies premiered at the 49th Toronto International Film Festival which kicked off on Thursday.
The 10-day film festival features over 270 films and documentaries, including Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis, David Green’s Ben Stiller-starrer Nutcrackers, Elton John: Never Too Late, and Pamela Anderson-starrer The Last Showgirl.
Lakshmipriya Devi’s debut Manipuri film Boong became the first Indian film to be premiered at this edition of the festival. The film is a remarkable story of a young boy Boong who defies all odds in his search for his missing father who went out for better prospects but stopped communicating with his wife and son. Much of the story unfolds in the town of Moreh on the Burmese border.
For a debutant director, Lakshmipriya has adeptly weaved in a couple of sub-plots to lay bare the tensions about the `outsiders’ in the north-east.
Another India-centric film to premiere on Thursday was Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine as Light. At the heart of its storyline are two nurses – middle-aged Prabha (Kani Kusruti) and young Anu (Divya Prabha)– in the city of dreams Mumbai. Not only hospital colleagues, but they are also roommates. One with her husband gone abroad and the other pursuing a secret relationship with a boy of other faith. Emotional lows and highs of unfolding their lives underpin the story of this film.
With crowded railway platforms, trains and markets, Kapadia’s film also highlights the heartlessness of urban developers as a lab colleague of the two nurses is evicted from her home. Thick friends that the three are, they l retreat to a coastal village where their story makes a happy ending.
The third Indian movie to have its world premiere on the opening day of the festival was Reema Kagti’s Superboys of Malegaon.
Produced by Zoya Akhtar, Superboys of Malegaon traces the real-life story of a dreamer Nasir Shaikh (played by Adarsh Gourav) who pursues his passion for filmmaking on the back of his friends and community.
Many A-listers, including Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Lopez, Adam Driver, Denzel Washington, and Bruce Springsteen, are likely to attend the film festival.
