A flying start for debut Indian trio at Toronto International Film Festival

This year, only three films from India made it to TIFF, among the world's top fests and traditionally a welcoming platform for Indian cinema

From Mumbai to Delhi to Dubai to Toronto, punctuated by mandatory app downloads and Covid-19 tests, Ritwik Pareek finally turned up after a long and eventful journey only to find that he’d missed the world premiere of his debut film, Dug Dug, at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).

But he was still walking on air hours after he landed, and not because of jet lag. He was thrilled that his Hindi film had been picked as the warm-up act for the sci-fi extravaganza Dune that has star billing at this year’s TIFF (September 9-18).

“Where your film opens really