Mohammad Ali Baig’s debut feature film ‘Chand Tara’ to premiere at TIFF 2026

Hyderabad-based theatre personality Mohammad Ali Baig’s debut feature film Chand Tara will have its world premiere in the ‘market’ section of the 51st Toronto International Film Festival. The film, which narrates the story of singer Taramati and the Qutub Shahi ruler of the Deccan, Sultan Abdullah Qutub Shah, will be screened on September 16^{at the TIFF Lightbox venue. The film’s trailer was launched at the Cannes Film Festival in May this year.}

The cast and crew of Chand Tara, written and directed by Baig, includes reputed names such as Mohan Agashe, Anupam Kher, Masood Akhtar, Lucky Ali, Vasundhara Das and music composer Karthik Ilaiyaraaja. 

Mumbai-based theatre personality Ranjana Srivastava plays the protagonist while Reshma Shetty plays her sister Premamati. Hyderabadi veterans Rashmi Seth, S.A. Majeed and Vijay Prasad appear in pivotal cameos. Baig portrays the male lead character, Sultan Abdullah, who transformed from a horse-and-poetry loving prince to an able administrator of the Golconda Kingdom in the 17th century.