🎥 Indian film, ‘Homebound’ wins Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) award – worldwide release next week (September 26) announced today as India’s official entry to The Oscars 2026
🎥 Oscar winning filmmakers Riz Ahmed and Aneil Karia’s ‘Hamlet’ at TIFF and comes to London Film Festival (LFF, October 8-19) next…
🎥 One of the greatest films ever made – Indian ‘Sholay’ enjoyed its premiere screening in TIFF in a new directors’ cut 4k edition. It heads to LFF next…
🎥 ‘Master of None’ star Aziz Ansari’s Good Fortune screens, has Keanu Reeves and Seth Rogen in lead roles
🎥 Famed Indian director Anurag Kashyap delivers Bollywood star Bobby Deol in jail drama ‘Bandar’/‘Monkey in a Cage’
🎥 International actor Huma Qureshi shines in Indian crime drama, ‘Bayaan’
🎥 British Pakistani Seemab Gul’s first feature ‘Ghost School’ is major achievement and heralds much…
🎥 India launches Waves Bazaar initiative on sidelines at TIFF50
With the Toronto International Film Festival concluding on Sunday (September 14) we look at the South Asian films that screened there and look ahead to some of those films coming to the London Film Festival (LFF, October 8-19) next…
WINNING big for those interested in South Asian cinema and personalities at the Toronto International Film Festival (September 4-14) was the film, ‘Homebound’.
It won the second runners-up position in the International People’s Choice Award at TIFF, featuring behind well-known South Korean director Park Chan-wook’s ‘No Other Choice’, as the winner and first runner-up place for ‘Sentimental Value’ Joachim Trier whose film also premiered at Cannes in May. (See our ‘Homebound’ interviews from Cannes below). ‘Sentimental Value’ also comes to LFF. ‘Hamnet’ – the screen adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s 2020 novel, starring Paul Mescal (‘Gladiator‘) and Jessie Buckley (‘Wicked Little Letters‘) and directed by Chloé Zhao (‘Eternals’) won TIFF50 People’s Choice Awards on Sunday (September 14).
‘Homebound’ is a story set in North India about three friends trying to forge careers and looking to pass the all important civil service examinations which will allow them passage into Government Service. Set just before covid times, it is a hugely absorbing, affecting intense drama.
Bollywood stars Ishaan Khatter and Jahnvi Kapooor feature as two of the trio and are joined by Vishwal Jethwa.
The three main characters all come from poor backgrounds and face discrimination and prejudice as minorities – Khatter who plays the main protagonist is Muslim, while Jethwa and Kapoor are from the Dalit (low caste) community.
The drama is based on real life events as chronicled by Basharat Peer which appeared in a New York Times article – and so began director Neeraj Ghaywan’s journey on the film.
‘Homebound’ premiered in Cannes to great acclaim and Ghaywan said at TIFF50 that a lot of his own experiences have subconsciously seeped into the film.
We will be writing a full review ahead of its worldwide release on September 26.
Star Riz Ahmed and director Aneil Karia’s ‘Hamlet’ is also coming to LFF, having screened in North America both at TIFF and Telluride (US) – which often premieres independent films. The pair won an Oscar for ‘The Long Goodbye‘.
Ahmed described how he had made ‘Hamlet‘ while facing the challenges of fatherhood for the first time.
“I was quite sleep deprived with a newborn baby and also doing night shoots. It was super intense,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “So there’s a kind of fever dream quality to the shoot I think you see in the film.” (See link for the full article below).
Set in a wealthy London Hindu family, Ahmed’s central character is wrapped by indecision and doubt over what is happening to him and his family. It features a star cast with Art Malik, Morfydd Clark, Timothy Spall and Indian actor Sheeba Chaddha. It hits LFF on October 13, 14 and 16.
Hansal Mehta, is one of India’s best known directors but the screening of episodic series, ‘Gandhi’ was his first in this genre at TIFF and part of its Primetime strand of screenings.
Based on historian Ramachandra Guha’s ‘Before India and Gandhi: The Years That Changed The World’, it is an exploration of Gandhi’s life as a young adult, leaving India to continue his studies in London and then work in South Africa before returning to India and politics. The lead is played by Pratik Gandhi (no relation) and his wife Kastur in the series, the role is played by his actual wife, Bhamini Oza Gandhi.
The eight-part drama which is made on a scale Hansal said he had never encountered before – larger than his successful ‘Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story’ for India streamer, SonyLiv, ‘Gandhi‘ has yet to be completed in its production, we believe.
One of the world’s greatest films, the Indian classic, ‘Sholay’ screened in all its glory with a new ending and two deleted scenes from the 1975 version restored.
Part of the original film was found in London before being reset in Italy in 4K, by a specialist firm and screened for the very first time at TIFF in this Director’s Cut. Helmed by Sippy Films and the Mumbai-based Film Heritage Foundation, which also restored Satyajit Ray’s masterly ‘Days and Nights in the Forest/Aranyer Din Ratri’ and first screened in Cannes), both films screened in Toronto.
There is only one screening of ‘Sholay’ at LFF on the final day, October 19 at the BFI Imax Southbank in London – the country’s largest screen.
Predictably enough, it is sold out at LFF currently – but tickets are likely to become available later… keep tracking this (link below) especially during the festival and even just before its screening… we hope to preview (in print) with BFI recorded contributions from the leading cast members, including Amitabh Bachchan himself.
Ramesh Sippy was in Toronto for the screening on September 6 and was joined by Bobby Deol (son of one of the stars of the film, Dharmendra) there.
Aziz Ansari, best known more recently for his Netflix series, ‘Master of None’ and his longtime spot on US TV comedy, ‘Parks and Recreation’ hit the big screen with Hollywood titans, Seth Rogen and Keanu Reeves. Despite the promising portents on paper, this comedy about an angel arranging a life swap between lowly Arj (Ansari) and mega-wealthy tech tycoon Jeff (Rogen) didn’t quite hit it off with reviewers. It releases in the US and the UK on October 17.
Anurag Kashyap is one of India’s best-known directors and returned to TIFF with ‘Bandar/Monkey in a Cage’ with Bollywood star Bobby Deol in the lead role. The prison drama throws a spotlight on the Indian penal system and has a man, Samar, an ageing TV star, who is accused of raping his ex-girlfriend, thrown inside and follows the drama from there and tackles the #MeToo furore in this tale loosely based on a real incident, reportedly.
It is expected to come to screens both internationally and in India later this year or early next, according to reports.
‘Bayaan’ is another Indian drama that focuses on alleged bad behaviour that comes under the police’s remit. Star Huma Qureshi plays a female detective tasked with getting the truth on the way a cult religious figure treats his female followers. Bikas Ranjan Mishra’s film got decent reviews from its TIFF screening with much praise for Qureshi’s performance, as a rookie cop trying to navigate a case which has political and cultural sensitivities at the heart of it.
Seemab Gul, the British Pakistani filmmaker whose debut feature, ‘Ghost School’ screened at TIFF50 is now reported to be looking for a European premiere and it seems likely headed to Berlinale 2026. It has German production support. It is headed to Busan International Film Festival (September 17-26) and screened there yesterday – read our preview focusing on Indian films there – (pending).
The film which is about a young girl who asks why her school in Pakistan has closed down embraces elements of both social and magical realism. There are said to be thousands of such ‘ghost schools’ in the country: where children are supposed to be in school but no such institution exists.
Top picture: Chandan (Vishal Jethwa) and Mohammed (Ishaan Khatter)
India’s Waves Bazaar at TIFF
LAUNCHING internationally for the first time in Toronto, we believe was India’s Waves initiative. WAVES (written like this but we avoid capitalisation as much as possible*), stands for World Audio Visual Entertainment Summit. This was launched formally in New Delhi in December 2024, by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
It seeks to highlight, promote and support India’s thriving content creator economy – encompassing everything from amateur YouTubers and Instagram influencers through to international film companies and broadcasters.
In Toronto, Waves Bazaar, tied to the NFDC market strand of the International Film Festival of India – (IFFI56, November 20-28 this year), there was a Bharat (India) Pavilion (similar to what it has had in Cannes for many years) and a delegation of women filmmakers, as well initiatives on Indo-Canadian filmmaking cooperation.
Guneet Monga, India’s Oscar-winning producer was among the speakers at the launch with women filmmakers – Arshaly Jose, Deepa Bhatia, Katyayani Kumar, Madhumita Sundaraman and Paramati Anand, from India as part of the womens filmmaking contingent – they had been chosen from an international jury in a competition.
Links
Homebound Interviews in Cannes
https://variety.com/2025/film/news/ghost-school-director-pakistan-education-crisis-1236509185
At LFF 2025
Also screening at LFF – India’s ‘Songs of Forgotten Trees’
LFF ticket availability page – Ticket availability | BFI London Film Festival 2025
