‘Shook’ is about identity and survival

By Janet Grant

Shook – “A Love Letter to Scarborough, the Struggle, and Selfhood. “Between the stations stops, a story unfolds.” “Forgiveness is the longest journey.”

In Shook, filmmaker Amar Wala takes his first step into fiction—and he does it with heart, humour, and a deep love for the city that raised him. Set against the backdrop of Scarborough and the ever-rattling TTC subway, Wala’s dramedy feels both personal and universal.

Drawing from his own experiences, including his journey with Parkinson’s, Wala crafts a story that’s as much about identity as it is about survival. It follows Ashish (played by Saamer Usmani), an Indian-Canadian writer who aspires to live the artsy, bohemian life. But in a city as expensive, competitive, and class-stratified as Toronto, those dreams come with a cost. Literally.

Ashish’s creative spark is fueled by his daily commute from Scarborough to a trendy downtown café—his chosen writing haven. Wala lets those long TTC rides breathe on screen, using them to explore how geography, economics, and time shape ambition. It’s a subtle but powerful commentary on who gets to chase their dreams and who’s too busy just trying to make it through the day.

The film shines brightest in its quieter moments—Ashish’s tension with his estranged father (Bernard White), the cautious intimacy with new love Claire (Amy Forsyth), and the warmth and quiet strength of his mother (Pamela Mala Sinha). These threads gently unravel the emotional core of the story: forgiveness, suspicion, family wounds, and the hard work of healing.

Wala may be new to fiction, but his documentarian’s eye is present in every frame. Shook is full of loving detail—Scarborough isn’t just a setting, it’s a character. And like Ashish, it’s layered, complicated, often misunderstood, but full of soul.

Shook isn’t flashy, and it doesn’t need to be. It’s honest. It’s Toronto. And it might just shake something loose in you.

“Wala shakes the screen without raising his voice.” “Fathers, lovers, mothers—none of it easy, all of it true.”

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