A teaser for Karthik Subbaraj's Tamil-language film Dorothy arrived on 5 August 2026, ahead of the film's world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. The premiere will take place in Toronto's Centrepiece programme, a section that showcases work from established and emerging film-makers alike. Variety

Dorothy is Subbaraj's tenth feature. Set in rural India in the early 1990s, the film explores friendship, compassion, hope, caste, violence and prejudice. The cast is led by Sananth, Rishikanth and Keerthy Suresh, with a score by Ilaiyaraaja — the veteran composer's 1,540th film credit. Variety

Jio Studios and Sikhya Entertainment are backing the project. Jyoti Deshpande, president of Jio Studios (the entertainment arm of Reliance Industries Limited), produces alongside Sikhya's Guneet Monga Kapoor and Achin Jain, in association with Dhammam Films. Variety

For Sikhya, Dorothy marks a return to Tamil-language cinema four years after The Elephant Whisperers, which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Film in 2023. Sikhya also backed the Oscar-winning short Period. End of Sentence. Jio Studios, for its part, has topped India's Hindi-language box office for three straight years — with Stree 2 (2024), Dhurandhar (2025) and Dhurandhar The Revenge (2026) — and its Dhurandhar franchise has grossed more than INR 3,000 crore ($330 million) worldwide. At India's 72nd National Film Awards, Jio Studios collected four honours, including best feature film. Variety

Subbaraj broke through with the 2012 thriller Pizza and has since built a varied filmography: Jigarthanda (2014), Iraivi (2016), Mercury (2018), Petta (2019) — the Rajinikanth-starring action film that gave him a wide pan-Indian audience — Mahaan (2022) and Jigarthanda Double X (2023). Dorothy will be his first film to premiere at Toronto. Variety

After its festival run, Dorothy opens in theatres worldwide, including India, on 25 September. Variety