Principal photography has kicked off in Toronto for Reeyaz Habib’s feature directorial debut, Fat Lady Sriracha.

Habib (Samir) of Sriracha Stories is the director and writer behind the dark comedy, which is produced by Shachi Sharma (Time Out) and Jaskaran Singh (Copeless), and associate produced by Rikhil Bahadur (Time Out) and Kate Hornsby (The Hammer). It was partly funded by the Canada Council for the Arts.

Toronto’s Game Theory Films will distribute the film in Canada, after choosing it for the third round of its distribution fund initiative created in 2020 to support Black, Indigenous and people of colour feature filmmakers.

Fat Lady Sriracha follows an aspiring line cook who has no interest in kids or a family but becomes a surrogate for a loan shark in order to repay her deadbeat dad’s gambling debts.

The cast includes Milcania Diaz-Rojas (Slip), Carlo Rota (American Horror Story), Richard Fitzpatrick (American Gothic), Benjamin Sutherland (Kim’s Convenience) and Angela Besharah (Star Trek: Strange New Worlds).

The story addresses “the issue of gender imbalance and the absurd expectations society places on women,” said Habib in a statement, adding that it tells “an entertaining story while exploring an important social issue.”

An alumnus of the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts, Habib pursued filmmaking after a 15-year career in the financial sector in Toronto. He is represented by Meridian Artists and is focused “on telling entertaining, but socially relevant stories,” according to a news release.

Photo L-R, top to bottom: Milcania Diaz-Rojas; Carlo Rota; Richard Fitzpatrick; Ben Sutherland; Angela Besharah.