During a particularly snowy winter dinner rush in Toronto, three South Asian delivery drivers navigate the city while reflecting on the journeys that brought them there.
As snow falls across Toronto, three South Asian delivery drivers weave through traffic to deliver meals during the city’s busiest hours. Their stories reveal lives shaped by migration, ambition and grit, while exposing the contradictions of a society that embraces South Asian culture even as it marginalizes many of the people who sustain it. Blending intimate portraiture with the relentless pace of gig work in its visuals and soundtrack, Butter Chicken to Go asks what it means to build a life in a place where your labour is welcomed, but your presence remains contested.
Produced as part of REDEFINED, a collaboration between the National Film Board of Canada and the Toronto International Film Festival supporting the next generation of Canadian and Indigenous filmmakers.
Butter Chicken To Go, Prajj, provided by the National Film Board of Canada