Seven Indian films, diverse in genres, will premiere at TIFF 2026, including a Malayalam vampire western and a biopic on Phoolan Devi.

Updated on: Sep 6, 2026, 14:04:07 IST

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With seven Indian films selected to premier at the 2026 edition of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), North America’s leading movie events will present its most eclectic collection from the country yet.

The range is genre-bending, featuring a Malayalam vampire western, a brooding Naga film in a language that fewer than 250,000 people speak, a Tamil buddy action production, a sharp biopic of Phoolan Devi, a Malayalam classic from 1986 and two short features. Robyn Citizen, TIFF’s Director of Programming and Platform Lead, agreed it was a “diverse selection.”

“The submissions this year from India were just wildly different in narrative tone and genre, which is great. And so we ended up with the final selection because it’s reflective of the submissions we received this year,” she explained.

There isn’t a mainstream Hindi film at the festival this year as “release dates and release plans for some of these bigger films just hasn’t worked out timing-wise for us,” she pointed out.

That doesn’t detract from the Indian attractions to be screened at the festival, considered among the four major film events globally, along with those in Cannes, Venice and Berlin.

Phoolan is director Richie Mehta’s version of a slice of the bandit queen’s life. The creator of the acclaimed series Delhi Crime is not trying to emulate Shekhar Kapur’s 1984 drama, but has focused on a 48-hour segment of her life as she attempts to flee capture by police. In her description of the film, Citizen said Mehta’s “interpretation of the life and legend of Devi centres on a pivotal moment in her life, contextualized by but never exploitative of her traumatic past”. It will screen in the high-profile special presentations section of the festival.

Grabbing just as much attention will be director Samjad’s Half, chosen in TIFF’s wildly popular Midnight Madness category. This film with vampires in the Rajasthan desert was described by programmer Peter Kuplowsky as “a rousing cavalcade of guts and gore, set to the eclectic Malayalam soundtrack.”

Violence will also drive part of the narrative for Karthik Subbaraj’s Dorothy, part of the Centrepiece category. Citizen said Subbaraj has a “reputation in Tamil cinema for being a very kinetic filmmaker with his great action set pieces, but he’s often very thoughtful in how he talks about social issues in his films as well.” That, she said, relates to Dorothy as well.

Citizen also selected director Theja Rio’s Angh, set in an indigenous village in Nagaland, close to Myanmar. It will form part of TIFF’s competitive section, Platform. In a local language of Konyak, it ponders upon the impact of the arrival of missionaries on native culture. “It’s a story that I think people will not be familiar with. And that’s always attractive for a film festival to kind of be able to give that filmmaker and kind of that history a voice,” she pointed out.

Cineastes will also get an opportunity to view a digital restoration of director John Abraham’s 1986 Malayalam classic Report to Mother or Amma Ariyan, as well as two short features, Shaunak Sen’s Termite and Rahul Roye’s Aman.

In all, the 51st edition of TIFF will feature nearly 300 titles. The festival will begin on Thursday and run through to September 20.

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