MUMBAI FEATURED in TIFF CITY to CITY PROGRAMME

Described as a frantic melange of India’s extremes, Mumbai (Bombay) is a financial powerhouse and India’s vogue centre of fashion, and film. This year TIFF brings the chaotic, and exotic, streets of Mumbai to King West with their City to City programme during the Toronto International Film Festival (September 6-16).

Renowned as the epicentre of Bollywood’s film industry, this City to City programme is a spotlight on the emerging filmmakers living and working in Mumbai.

“Mumbai’s cinema today is entirely different from what it was even a few years ago,” says Cameron Bailey, Artistic Director of the festival. “The rise of independent cinema has shifted the terrain, probing into previously taboo subjects and adopted styles that were earlier unpalatable to the Indian audience.”

Explore a snapshot of where’s hot right now:

The Bright Day, India

Yearning for meaning in his life, a coddled young man abandons his girlfriend and family to set out on a spiritual quest across India.

Gangs of Wasseypur – Part One, India

Anurag Kashyap’s decade-spanning gangster epic chronicles the bloody turf war between two competing criminal families during the tumultuous era of Indian independence and industrialization.

Gangs of Wasseypur – Part Two, India

Part two of this stylish Indian gangster epic amps up the adrenaline as the irresistibly amoral criminal clans of Wasseypur careen towards their bloody date with destiny.

Ishaqzaade, India

A love story set amidst political violence in northern India, this romance follows Hindu Parma and Muslim Zoya as they try to escape the restrictive demands of their families. Bollywood star, Yash Raj, delivers a surprisingly gritty reflection of the new India.

Miss Lovely, India

Set in the lower depths of Bombay’s C-grade film industry, Miss Lovely follows the devastating story of two brothers who produce sex horror films in the mid-1980s.

Mumbai’s King, India

Rahul roams the streets with his balloon-seller friend Arbaaz. These two kids escape the grim realities of their lives by gambling, roasting stolen potatoes, stealing an auto rickshaw for a joyride, and chasing girls.

Peddlars, India

The lives of a rookie cop, a streetwise orphan and a beautiful young ex-teacher collide explosively in the drug underworld of Mumbai.

Shahid, India

Shahid is the remarkable true story of slain human rights activist and lawyer Shahid Azmi, who was killed in 2010. Shahid traces the inspiring personal journey of a boy who became an unlikely messiah for human rights, while following the rise of communal violence in India.

Shanghai, India

From the director of Love Sex aur Dhokla comes a searing political drama. Abhay Deol plays an investigator seeking the cause behind the assassination of a firebrand politician, complicated by the actions of the politician’s lover.

Ship of Theseus, India

From acclaimed Indian playwright Anand Gandhi, a story of three disparate people — a devout monk stricken by illness, a blind woman whose sight is suddenly restored, and a stockbroker who sets out to combat the illegal international trade in human organs — are linked by an unknown connection.

The 37^th Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 6 to 16, 2012.

Tickets to the City to City Programme are available at tiff.festival ’12, by phone at 416.599.TIFF or in person at TIFF Bell Lightbox. Check out what’s happening on TIFF’s YouTube Chanel or FOLLOW TIFF on TWITTER @tiff_net.