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Category: Toronto International Film Festival

Doubles With Slight Pepper (dir. Ian Harnarine, 2011)

This post first appeared on Totally Filmi on September 1, 2011. “I come from a long line of poor and stupid coolies,” says Dhani, not without some bitterness.  It’s a bitterness that’s justified:  Dhani’s father left Trinidad for Canada, promising to bring Dhani and his mother later, leaving them with…

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Trishna (dir. Michael Winterbottom, 2011)

This post first appeared on Totally Filmi on July 13, 2012. This is the truth.The truth love has taught me.My love, you showed me how the world really is. (from one of Amit Trivedi’s very fine original songs from Trishna) Michael Winterbottom’s latest film, Trishna, is an adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s…

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Ship of Theseus (dir. Anand Gandhi, 2012)

This post first appeared on Totally Filmi on September 3, 2012. Ship of Theseus is the first feature film from director Anand Gandhi, and, as its title suggests, it explores the philosophical concept of the paradox of Theseus.  As described by the Greek philosopher Plutarch, the paradox is this:  if an…

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Ishaqzaade (dir. Habib Faisal, 2012)

This post first appeared on Totally Filmi on September 6, 2012. Ishaqzaade (“Love Rebels”, rechristened “Born to Hate, Destined to Love” for TIFF2012) tells the story of Zoya (Parineeti Chopra) and Parma (Arjun Kapoor), and is set against the backdrop of the political wrangling that divides their two families.  “Here comes…

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Shanghai (dir. Dibakar Banerjee, 2012)

This post first appeared on Totally Filmi on September 7, 2012. “He didn’t understand how it had happened.  Undoubtedly he never would.  These moments are like shooting stars.  They pass before us, leaving only a luminous trail impossible to decipher.  Where do they come from?  What do they plunge toward?”…

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English Vinglish (dir. Gauri Shinde, 2012)

This post first appeared on Totally Filmi on September 12, 2012. Early morning.  A family chats around the breakfast table.  The conversation touches on the typical day-to-day stuff familiar to any family, but as the scene unfolds, we notice one difference:  much of the conversation happens in English, with the…

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Miss Lovely (dir. Ashim Ashluwalia, 2012)

This post first appeared on Totally Filmi on September 13, 2012. Documentary filmmaker Ashim Ashluwalia makes his transition to feature films with this story of the two brothers, Sonu (Nawazuddin Sidiqqui) and Vicky (Anil George) who work making lurid and sleezy  (and highly illegal, given the censorship and repression of…

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The Lunchbox (dir. Ritesh Batra, 2013)

This post first appeared on Totally Filmi on September 20, 2013. “The 5,000 or so dabbawalas in the city have an astounding service record. Every working day they transport more than 130,000 lunch boxes throughout Mumbai, the world’s fourth-most-populous city. That entails conducting upwards of 260,000 transactions in six hours…

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