One of the highlights of Indian and South Asian cinema at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) this year was Kiran Rao’s Laapataa Ladies (Lost Ladies). About two newly-wed brides who accidentally get lost from the same train (they’re both wearing long, red wedding ghunghats and can’t see a damn thing), it is an entirely delicious comedy/satire that packs in a powerful social and feminist commentary about the identity and status of Indian women in a deeply patriarchal society, both in and beyond marriage. It got standing ovations at two screenings at TIFF, leaving no one in doubt about the deep chord it touched in an international audience.

This is Rao’s second feature after her debut Dhobi Ghat (Mumbai Diaries) that was also at TIFF in 2010, 13 years later. Meanwhile, she has also produced about 17 films, a formidable body of work, which includes Taare Zameen Par, Peepli [Live] (that was at Berlin Film Festival), Dangal (a landmark film that also made more money in China than in India), Secret Superstar, Laal Singh Chaddha and Laapataa Ladies—apart from co-parenting a son, Azad, with Aamir Khan. Laapataa Ladies, which had a world premiere in TIFF’s Centrepiece section, is produced by Aamir Khan Productions, Rao’s Kindling Pictures and Jio Studios.