Gandhi, Ray and Sholay: TIFF’s Indian haul

Ramesh Sippy’s “Sholay” and the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) have something in common. “Sholay” is 50 and so is TIFF. Yes, one of India’s most iconic blockbusters and North America’s premier annual celebration of the art and craft of cinema saw light of day within months of each other. “Sholay” was released on India’s 28th Independence Day in 1975.

TIFF got off the ground soon after. It is only in the fitness of things that the 50th edition of TIFF (September 4 to 14, 2025) is hosting a Gala Presentation of a 4K restoration of Sholay as the film celebrates half a century. There is an older Indian film at TIFF this year – film maestro Satyajit Ray’s 1970 masterpiece “Aranyer Din Ratri” (Days and Nights in the Forest).

The two classics from opposite ends of the Indian cinema spectrum have been restored to 4K glory at L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory in Bologna, Italy, with the Mumbai-based Film Heritage Foundation (FIH) playing a key role in the exercise. Significantly, FIH has also been instrumental in bringing Bimal Roy’s neo-realist classic “Do Bigha Zamin” to life again.

The 4K restoration of the 1953 film has premiered at the Venice Film Festival. But even as TIFF commemorates its eventful history, its spotlight on contemporary cinema from the subcontinent remains as sharp as ever. Four new Indian films, a web series about Mahatma Gandhi and a Pakistani title by a London-based debutante complete the South Asian line-up at the festival that has long championed cinema from this part of the world.

Sanya Malhotra in 'Bandar.'

The programme includes the North American premiere of Neeraj Ghaywan’s “Homebound,” which had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May. The powerful drama is executive produced by Martin Scorsese, who is also the founder and chair of The Film Foundation, which spearheaded the restoration of Aranyer Din Ratri financed by the Golden Globe Foundation. TIFF 2025 will host the world premieres of three new Indian titles. Among them is festival regular Anurag Kashyap’s “Bandar” (Monkey in a Cage). The legal procedural stars Bobby Deol as a fading Mumbai television star who is dragged into a bruising judicial battle of attrition following a complaint of rape lodged against him by his ex.

The TIFF programme book states that “Bandar” “takes an unflinching look at the thornier ripple effects of #MeToo in digital-age India”. The film, which also stars Sanya Malhotra, Saba Azad and Sapna Pabbi, is Kashyap’s sixth directorial work to make it to TIFF’s official selection.

Ishaan Khatter (left) and Vishal Jethwa in 'Homebound.'

The two other Indian films are by TIFF first-timers – Bikas Ranjan Mishra and Jitank Singh Gurjar. The former’s “Bayaan” (Testimony), a part of the festival’s Discovery segment, stars Huma Qureshi as a greenhorn detective from Delhi deployed to investigate an allegation of moral turpitude against a venerated cult leader in small-town Rajasthan. The rookie runs into a stonewall created by abuse of power, entrenched prejudice and enforced silences. She encounters grave danger in the process. The festival catalogue says Bayaan, Mishra’s second big-screen feature, “skilfully navigates the psychological terrain of corruption and resistance”.

Jitank Singh Gurjar’s “Vimukt” (In Search of the Sky), the only Indian title in TIFF’s Centrepiece section, tells the heart-breaking story of an elderly rural couple who grapple with crushing poverty and the onerous responsibility of taking care of a mentally challenged 26-year-old son.

Huma Qureshi in 'Bayaan.'

Pushed to the wall, they go on a pilgrimage to the Maha Kumbh Mela in the hope of ridding the young man of his impairment and thus ending their own cycle of misfortunes. They dangle between despair and faith, hopelessness and tenacity, abandonment and awakening.

Praising the director of Vimukt for informing his film with “powerful authenticity”, TIFF’s South Asia programmer Robyn Citizen also notes in her introduction that Gurjar “turns our attention to deeply human, universally resonant themes”.

Rounding off TIFF’s Indian selection this year is the web series “Gandhi,” co-created by Hansal Mehta and Sameer Nair (of Applause Entertainment). It is the first-ever Indian entry in the festival’s Primetime, a section devoted to long-form storytelling.

Pratik Gandhi as 'Gandhi.'

Gandhi, loosely adapted from two books by historian Ramachandra Guha, is top-lined by Pratik Gandhi in the role of the leader of India’s freedom struggle. Kasturba Gandhi is played by Bhamini Oza, the lead actor’s wife in real life. Says Hansal Mehta, who has been to TIFF before with “Shahid” (2012) and “Omerta” (2017): “Gandhi is, in essence, the story of a human journey. As the series unfolds, you will forget that you are looking at Mahatma Gandhi.”

The only non-Indian TIFF 2025 selection from the subcontinent is British-Pakistani producer-writer-director Seemab Gul’s “Ghost School” in the festival’s Discovery strand. “Ghost School” revolves around 10-year-old Rabia whose village school closes suddenly. Confounded by the turn of events. the girl launches a search for the reason for the closure as unsettling rumours, entrenched apathy and unbridled corruption swirl around her. According to TIFF’s programme book, the film presents “insightful critiques of feudal power, gender injustice and the state’s neglect of rural education... These heavy themes are skilfully balanced and humanised through Rabia’s clear-eyed perspective.”

The writer is a national award-winning Indian film critic.