Bollywood director Priyadarshan, known for churning out money-spinning comedies at breakneck speed, has won a completely new kind of fan following at the 33rd Toronto International Film Festival with a work that marks a break with his characteristic style.

'Kanchivaram' is an evocative but tragic tale of a pre-Independence Indian Silk Weaver in Kanchipuram. The story unfolds against the backdrop of the first rumblings of labor unionism in south India.

'I am really excited,' said Priyadarshan, who flew into town along with lead actor, Prakash Raj, to promote the new film. 'I've never made a film like this before and the response is overwhelming.'

'Kanchivaram' is a neatly crafted, visually lush film that has none of the ingredients that define the nature of Priyadarshan's recent outputs. The applause that the film is garnering here, he said, has made him enthusiastic to explore the possibility of attempting more offbeat films in the future. 'I can assure you that 'Kanchivaram' isn't going to be the only film of its kind that I will make,' he said.

After its world premiere here, 'Kanchivaram' is due to travel to the Pusan Film Festival in South Korea. What's more, inquiries from several other major international festivals such as Palm Springs, San Francisco and Stuttgart among others have begun to pour in.

'I spent months interviewing weavers and people associated with the cooperative movement. I based my story and screenplay on my research,' he added. 'Kanchivaram' is Priyadarshan's fifth Tamil-language film. 'It had to be in Tamil for reasons of authenticity. It wouldn't have looked and sounded right in any other language,' he asserts.