The sole Indian actress spotted at the 31st Toronto International Film Festival, Nandita Das, is of course a film festival regular.

In Toronto for the screening of Chitra Palekar's Marathi film, "Maati Maay", in which she plays the complex eponymous character, the Delhi-based actress was gone by the fifth day of the festival, but not before receiving the plaudits for her performance in the small independent film, adapted from a Mahasweta Devi story, "Bayen".

Promotion of "Maati Maay" was certainly not the only thing on Nandita's mind or agenda. She used her time in Toronto to catch up on a clutch of films. "Maati Maay", on its part, has managed to create a fair bit of excitement in Toronto owing to its unusual theme - it revolves around a woman keeper of a children's graveyard.

"These festivals are important for this kind of cinema because these are the only viable platforms that are accessible these days," said Das, who has a spate of similar releases coming up in the next few months, including a Santosh Sivan film co-starring Rahul Bose and British actor Linus Roache.

Two screenings were initially scheduled for "Maati Maay", but an additional show of the film had to be quickly arranged when the second screening ran into a few technical glitches.

Writer-director Palekar was understandably a little stressed out when things went a little wrong, but she had reason to beam happily when the additional show went off like a dream.