The 17th annual Indian Film Festival taking place in Los Angeles will kick off its events with Andhadhun, a thriller directed by Sriram Raghavan, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The film features actress Tabu, who will also be receiving a tribute during the festival. She plays Simi, an actress who is looking to get rid of her dead husband’s body in front of a blind pianist. Tabu also starred in international films The Namesake and Life of Pi. Other films that will be featured include Nooreh, directed by Ashish Pandey, Ronny Sen’s Cat Sticks, and Ronak Shah and Safdar Rahman’s Chippa, starring Lion’s Sunny Pawar.
While centered on celebrating Indian filmmakers and actors, the festival will also be focusing on women in the film industry since half of the festival’s lineup are female directors. Some of these female-led films include Anamika Haksar’s Taking the Horse to Eat Jalebis and Sandhya Suri’s The Field. Both of these films were presented at Sundance.
Films will also be shown in nine languages and the main themes that are emphasized throughout the films shown are intergenerational stories and political conflict stories. The festival will take place from April 11 to the 14 at Barco Innovation Center.