'The Hungry' to have Asia premiere at Mumbai Film Festival

After its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) next month, Britain-India co-production "The Hungry", will have its European premiere at the BFI London Film Festival (LFF) and its Asia premiere at the Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival in India in October.

The Naseeruddin Shah, Tisca Chopra, Neeraj Kabi, Arjun Gupta, Sayani Gupta, Antonio Aakeel and Suraj Sharma starrer movie is a Cinestaan Film Company/Film London co-production.

It follows Tulsi Joshi (Tisca), a widow and bride-to-be who arrives at her own wedding seeking revenge for the brutal murder of her first-born son. Based on William Shakespeare's "Titus Andronicus", the movie explores the violence that exists between power and love - a macabre fairytale set in the elite circles of northern India, read a statement.

Written and directed by Bornila Chatterjee and co-written and produced by Tanaji Dasgupta and Kurban Kassam, "The Hungry" was born from a desire to forge stronger links between Indian and Britain's film industries.

The two companies involved were supported by the British Council, which enabled a series of workshops to take place as part of last year's 'Shakespeare Lives' celebration, in order to develop the film in anticipation of the current UK/India Year of Culture.

Veteran Indian actor Naseeruddin says it's a film to watch out for.

"Bornila is extremely open and receptive to ideas from others, which can be rare with first-time directors. I would rate Bornila as among the best directors I've worked with, and you could sense that in her first film itself," he said.

Recounting her experience of working on the film, Tisca said: "During the course of the film, I hardly slept for about 20 days, not because I didn't have the time but because I was sweating and thinking - I could've done this, I could've done that. The writing has so many layers and levels that you keep peeling things off and there's still more to do."

--IANS

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