Priyanka Chopra and Anurag Kashyap lead Indian Cinema at TIFF

Toronto, Sept 6: Two years after blazing the Toronto screens as a determined boxer in the Mary Kom biopic, actor Priyanka Chopra is back at the Toronto film festival in the avatar of a producer and ambassador. At the 42nd Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) beginning tomorrow, Chopra is leading a TIFF campaign to promote filmmaking by women while presenting an Indian film as its producer. The festival chose the popular actor with an international appeal as ambassador for a charity event to raise funds for its 'Share Her Journey' campaign. Priyanka and her mother Madhu Chopra have produced the TIFF entry from India, 'Pahuna: The Little Visitors', directed by a first-time woman filmmaker, the Mumbai-based Paakhi A. Tyrewala. The film, part of the Special Event section at TIFF, is about three Nepalese children getting separated from their parents while they cross over to Sikkim. "A longtime staple of international screens, Priyanka Chopra is not only celebrated for playing strong and nuanced female characters that have their own agency, she is also committed to creating equal opportunities for women so they can reach their full potential," says Maxine Bailey, Vice-President of Advancement at TIFF. The Indian participation in Toronto this year include 'Village Rockstars' by Assamese director Rima Das, 'Mukkabaaz' (The Brawler) by Anurag Kashyap, 'Omerta' by Hansal Mehta, and 'The Hungry' by Bornila Chatterjee. The festival also has two films from Indian-origin directors like Jennifer Baichwal, whose documentary 'Long Time Running' on the Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip, is a gala presentation. The other, 'Silas' is by Anjali Nayar, on the life of Liberian activist Silas Siakor, a tireless crusader against illegal logging. Actor Kalki Koechlin stars in Pakistani director Sabiha Kumar's documentary 'Azmaish: A Journey Through the Subcontinent'. Part of TIFF Docs, the film follows Kumar in Pakistan and Koechlin in India as they try to discover common grounds in the two complex societies. Village Rockstars by Rima Das, the first Assamese film to be screened at TIFF, is about a 10-year-old village girl's dream to form a music band. "Rima Das' second feature paints an inspiring portrait of a young girl finding her place in a world made for boys and men," says TIFF Artistic Director Cameron Bailey. The film, the second feature by Das after Man with the Binoculars (2016), was selected to the Cannes festival's film market this year as part of Asian projects looking for production support and funds. "Recognition such as this, will be a reminder to me to benchmark my future work," says Das. Anurag Kashyap's 'Mukkabaaz' portrays corruption and greed in sports in the life of a boxer from Uttar Pradesh. Hansal Mehta returns to the festival after his 2012 film 'Shahid' to tell the story of the killer of American journalist Daniel Pearl. Mehta's 'Omerta' focuses on the British-born Omar Sheikh, played by Rajkummar Rao, who won the National Award for Best Actor for his title role in 'Shahid'. 'The Hungry' by the California-born Bornila Chatterjee is set in Delhi. Adapted from William Shakespeare's tragedy 'Titus Andronicus', the film, like Kashyap's 'Mukkabaaz', portrays corruption and greed in the backdrop of a big wedding in the national capital. Danish filmmaker Janus Metz's 'Borg/McEnroe', based on the famed rivalry between Swedish Bjorn Borg and American John McEnroe, is the opening film of the festival that runs up to September 17. Other films in the TIFF line-up include American actor Denzel Washington's legal thriller 'Roman Israel, Esq.', Hollywood director Aaron Sorkin's 'Molly's Game', and American actor Angelina Jolie's 'First They Killed My Father'. UNI