In his debut feature “Dug Dug”, director Ritwik Pareek tackles a very divisive topic, the birth of a cult and later, a religion. But unlike some movies from recent history that have explored similar themes (“The Master” comes to mind), it does it with a sense of fun and ebullience. “Dug Dug” premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.

“Dug Dug” is screening at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles

Thakur (Altaf Khan), a drunken motorbike rider, dies in a gristly traffic accident. His beat blue and pink bike gets towed to the police station, where it is destined to rot. Only that next day it is nowhere to be found in the police premise because it has miraculously teleported at the scene of the incident. It is brought to the station again, only to disappear the next day. The strange behavior of the inanimate object gets the attention...