Masala is a 1991 Canadian drama film starring, written, and directed by Srinivas Krishna.Suanne Kelman, "Lord Krishna tries on a hockey sweater". Toronto Star, July 7, 1990.
Plot Krishna is an orphan in Toronto whose parents and siblings were killed several years earlier in the Air India Flight 182 explosion while travelling back to India for a family visit, and who is now cleaning up his act after several years living on the streets as a drug addict and criminal.
The film also stars Zohra Sehgal as his grandmother; Saeed Jaffrey in a triple role as his uncle Lallu, a postal worker named Hariprasad and the Hindu god Krishna; and Sakina Jaffrey as Rita, Hariprasad's daughter."A take-no-prisoners effort: It's a dish that defies simple description". The Province, June 5, 1992.
Distribution The film premiered at the 1991 Toronto International Film Festival.Jay Scott, "Finding solace in tragedy with life-enhancing comedy: First-time directors Srinivas Krishna and Jan Oxenberg have each created a bizarre, very funny film based on bizarre, very unfunny realities". The Globe and Mail, September 14, 1991.
Response The film has been described as drawing on some the cinematic traditions of Bollywood rather than relying solely on the social realist conventions of Canadian film.Tom McSorley, "Masala". The Canadian Encyclopedia, September 21, 2009.
It has come to be recognized, alongside Deepa Mehta's contemporaneous Sam & Me, as being the first major landmark films about the Indo-Canadian experience.Shlomo Schwartzberg, "'Film-makers of color' resist being pigeon-holed". Financial Post, August 13, 1994.
Accolades The film received the Samuelson Award at the Birmingham International Film and Television Festival in 1991,"Masala wins award". Toronto Star, October 5, 1991. and Saeed Jaffrey received a Genie Award nomination for Best Actor at the 12th Genie Awards."Genies love dark Black Robe; Beresford film leads pack with 10 Genie nominations". Halifax Daily News, October 10, 1991.
Digital release In 2023, Telefilm Canada announced that the film was one of 23 titles that will be digitally restored under its new Canadian Cinema Reignited program to preserve classic Canadian films.
The restored version screened in the Classics program at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival.
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