The mystery and energy of India propels hyper-productive English director Michael Winterbottom's Dev Patel-Radhika Apte starrer "The Wedding Guest", a Special Presentations title of the ongoing 43rd Toronto International Film Festival.
The film, a road movie, crime drama and love story rolled into one, opens with a young Briton of subcontinental origin arriving in Younganabad in Pakistani Punjab ostensibly for a wedding and then goes on to throw the enigmatic male protagonist, played by an understated Patel, into barely explained situations that involve a runaway bride (Apte) and her dodgy NRI boyfriend of four years (Jim Sarbh).
The idea behind "The Wedding Guest", Winterbottom says, was in his head ever since he filmed "The Road to Guantanamo" over a decade ago.
"I could not make the film back then," he adds, "but the rural part of Punjab where the film was shot struck me as a good setting for a another film."