Nandita Das: Celebs Rumors

Naman Ramachandran The Toronto Intl. Film Festival [TIFF] this year offers up three independent films from that have the potential to be commercial hits and a lecture from an Indian filmmaker whose work is box office gold. Gala presentation, feature debutant Shubham Yogi’s “Kacchey Limbu,” a coming-of-age sibling drama with the game of cricket as a backdrop, has billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Jio Studios backing it. “Tora’s Husband,” a family drama set in small-town eastern India is competing in the festival’s Platform section and is by Toronto regular Rima Das, who has tasted box office success with “Village Rockstars.” Actor and director Nandita Das’ “Zwigato” is about the gig economy in India, focusing on the food delivery industry. It stars Indian television superstar Kapil Sharma and is produced by Applause Entertainment, a prolific content producer for streamers, which is planning to enter the theatrical release space imminently. And, S.S. Rajamouli, known for his “Baahubali” franchise and “RRR,” one of 2022’s biggest Indian box office successes, will deliver a lecture that covers among other things, the notion of art versus commerce.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The U.K.’s London Indian Film Festival and Birmingham Indian Film Festival will work together to present a two-city, two-part panoply of feature and short films, kicking off next month with “The Storyteller.” Directed by Ananth Mahadevan, “The Storyteller” sees Adil Hussain play a Gujarati businessman who believes that once physical wealth is accumulated, happiness will follow, but this proves not to be the case. Paresh Rawal plays the titular storyteller. The film is based on a story by the late, great Bengali filmmaker Satyajit Ray and contrasts the pursuit of material wealth with that of intellectual knowledge. Hussain, co-star Tannishtha Chatterjee and Mahadevan are expected to be on hand for Q&A sessions on June 22 at BFI Southbank and on June 23 at MAC Birmingham.

Naman Ramachandran Prolific Indian studio Applause Entertainment is celebrating its fifth anniversary with a flourishing streaming slate, several films, an ambitious expansion model and a doubling down on investment.The company is led by CEO Sameer Nair, a pioneer of Indian television with previous stints at Star TV, NDTV Imagine, Turner General Entertainment, and Balaji Telefilms.On the film front, Applause’s Hindi-language “The Rapist,” by Aparna Sen, won the prestigious Kim Jiseok award at Busan in 2021. Next up is a film by actor-director Nandita Das, whose last film “Manto” was at Cannes.