'Lunchbox', 'Shudh Desi Romance' to screen at Toronto Festival

Indian films "Lunchbox" and "Shudh Desi Romance" have been selected for screening at the Toronto International Film Festival this September.
"Lunchbox", starring Irrfan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Nimrit Kaur, had a successful world premiere at Cannes' Critics Week section where it picked up the viewer's choice award.
The Ritesh Batra directed film was one of the break-out movies at Cannes. It has already sold out in 27 categories across the world with Sony Pictures Classic buying the rights for North America. "Lunchbox" is being released in India by Karan Johar and UTV Disney on September 20.
"Toronto is a huge platform for films. It is good that it is getting a great launchpad in North America. I did not imagine that my debut film will do so well internationally," Batra told PTI.

"Shudh Desi Romance", releasing on September 13, is Maneesh Sharma's third directorial effort after "Band Baaja Baarat" and "Ladies Vs Ricky Behl". The film stars Parineeti Chopra, Vani Kapoor and Sushant Singh Rajput. The Jaipur-based romance is written by "Chak De" scriptwriter Jaideep Sahni.
The two films will have their gala premieres at the 38th edition of the festival, which is known to be an early predictor of Oscars.

The festival will take place from September 5 to 15.
According to TIFF's early line-up announcement, the festival will open with Bill Condon's "The Fifth Estate", a film on WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. British actor Benedict Cumberbatch plays Assange in the movie. Daniel Schechter's "Life of Crime" will close the festival.

Other big films headed to the annual gala are Idris Elba starrer Nelson Mandela movie "A Long Walk to Freedom", Meryl Streep-Julia Roberts starrer "August: Osage County", an adaptation of Tracy Letts Pulitzer Prize-winning play, George Clooney-Sandra Bullock starrer "Gravity", "Labor Day" and "Devil's Knot" among many others.
The full-list of feature films is yet to be announced.