Archive · 28 Aug 2026
Shaunak Sen’s Termite to Premiere at Toronto Film Festival
Shaunak Sen is a filmmaker known for making films about Delhi.
His new film is a short movie called Termite.
It will be shown for the first time at the Toronto International Film Festival.
The film is set in the busy streets of Old Delhi.
It follows two middle-aged workers who remove termites from buildings.
Their lives change after one of them gets an unexpected marriage proposal.
Sen says the story is about loneliness and friendships becoming weaker.
The film is in Hindi and Urdu and lasts 31 minutes.
Shaunak Sen’s first short film, Termite, will have its world premiere in TIFF’s Short Cuts programme.
The Toronto International Film Festival programme begins on September 10.
Set in Old Delhi, the 31-minute Hindi and Urdu film follows two middle-aged termite exterminators.
The story begins changing when one exterminator receives an unexpected marriage proposal.
Sen says the film explores urban loneliness and friendships that are slowly coming apart.
- Who
- Filmmaker Shaunak Sen, with co-writer Pew Banerjee.
- What
- Termite, Sen’s first short film, will receive its world premiere.
- When
- At the Toronto International Film Festival beginning on September 10.
- Where
- The premiere will take place in Toronto; the film is set in Old Delhi.
- Why
- The film examines urban loneliness, changing friendships and a major life change triggered by a marriage proposal.
- Film
- Termite
- Director
- Shaunak Sen
- Premiere
- Toronto International Film Festival, Short Cuts programme
- Language
- Hindi and Urdu
- Runtime
- 31 minutes
- Setting
- Old Delhi
- Inspiration
- Loosely inspired by a short story by Kannada writer Jayant Kaikini
- Previous feature
- Sen’s documentary All That Breathes received an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary Feature