Indian films win two prestigious awards at 2023 Toronto International Film Festival

Indian films have had a good year at the 48th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival. At TIFF 2023, Indian films won top honours in two prestigious categories and one in the festival’s most popular sections.

Director Tarsem Singh Dhandwar’s first feature in eight years, Dear Jassi, set mainly in Punjab, won honours in the juried competition section, Platform Award. Debutant director Jayesh Digambar Somalkar’s Marathi feature, A Match (Sthal), won the Network for the Promotion of Asian Pacific Cinema or NETPAC Award- the category is also adjudged by the jury. Meanwhile, Bollywood thriller KILL emerged as the first runner-up for the People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award.

Dhandwar made his directorial debut with The Cell in 2000. He went on to direct four more features, the latest being Self/less in 2015. Dhandwar has also gained recognition for his music videos where he has collaborated with the likes of REM and Lady Gaga and ad films for major brands.

The Punjabi film, Dear Jassi, is based on the true life story of the honour killing of an Indo-Canadian, 25-year-old Jaswinder Sidhu, a resident of Maple Ridge in British Columbia. Jassi’s family hired killers in Punjab in 2000 after she eloped with Mithu, considered an unsuitable match.

Praising the film, the Platform jury said, “Dear Jassi was a unanimous choice for this year’s Platform Award for its honest and poignant portrayal of a subject matter that still affects large portions of individuals forced to live under the inhumanity of bitter caste systems throughout the globe.”

Meanwhile, the NETPAC jury described Somalkar’s A Match as an “immersive portrayal of life in an Indian village, highlighting its oppressive patriarchal customs.”