MUMBAI: The Tom Hooper directed The King‘s Speech won the top award at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sunday, giving a much needed boost for the film to vie for the Oscar awards.

The film starring Colin Firth as Britain‘s reluctant King George VI and Geoffrey Rush as his speech therapist won the festival‘s People‘s Choice award.

Other films that earlier won the award were American Beauty,Crash, and Slumdog Millionaire and later walked off with best picture awards at the Oscars.

Firth‘s King George, the father of Queen Elizabeth II, is initially reluctant to ascend to the crown following the abdication of his brother Edward VIII. Plagued by a nervous stammer, he enlists the help of a speech therapist and is eventually able to lead the country into World War II.

Runner-up for the prize was the Justin Chadwick-directed film The First Grader that tells the story of an illiterate man in his eighties who tries to enlist in a Kenyan primary school to take advantage of government-sponsored education.

The 35th edition of the festival was notable for the long-awaited opening of the $200 million Bell Lightbox complex, the first permanent home for the festival.