London: The 69th Cannes International Film Festival has kick-started and for a couple of weeks, the resort town of French Riviera will be the one-stop destination for world’s finest movies. For the last couple of years, Indian actors and filmmakers have been attending the Festival, either to screen their movies or to represent the popular cosmetic brand.
However, none of our films have made a mark by winning an award in the mainstream category. The association of Indian film fraternity with Cannes has largely been that of deriving maximum publicity and to create a media buzz.
The Festival began amid terrorism fear; and it has left everyone surprised with interesting line up of Hollywood and French movies. The Festival opened with Woody Allen’s Café Society, with charismatic Kristen Stewart making a glamorous presence while talking about the movie set in the 1930’s on New York nightclubs.
Back in India, the media circus has already begun and the actors have been enthusiastically on the French sojourn.
Aishwarya Rai, who is regularly visiting Cannes for the last 14 years as L’Oreal brand ambassador has already flown to the destination, but not before her team articulately updated the media. Last year, it was all about her next movie ‘Jazbaa’, which was launched at Cannes.
Her interviews were about her glorious motherhood and her daughter Aaradhya. This year, the focus is on ‘Sarbjit’, which will be promoted at the Cannes.
Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap will be at Cannes for the premier of upcoming thriller ‘Raman Raghav 2.0’ in Directors’ Fortnight, a prestigious parallel section at Cannes, in which his previous films, ‘Gangs Of Wasseypur’ and ‘Ugly’ have been screened before.
As the L’Oreal face, Ash will be joined by Sonam Kapoor and Liverpool girl Amy Jackson- clearly all set to make a glamorous presence at the red carpet. Then, the internet broke with the news of Mallika Sherawat’s picture at Eiffel Tower –a detour to Cannes where she will be promoting her movie Time Raiders, directed by Hong Kong based filmmaker Daniel Lee. Yes, her career in movies is still on and she is not married yet, as the rumours suggested.
Amid the hullabaloo of the glamour brigade, there are a few meaningful movies made by Indian filmmakers that will also find its place. However, it may not get sufficient media space. Several small filmmakers will be at Cannes with the work of art, painstakingly completed, which unfortunately will get a passing mention as all eyes are likely to be on the glamour dolls at the red carpet.
The only documentary to be screened this is that of Shirley Abraham and Amit Madheshiya’s ‘The Cinema Travellers’, presenting the decreasing
relevance of travelling talkies in rural aharashtra. Aditya Vikram Sengupta’s ‘Memories And My Mother’ will be screened at the Cannes Atelier, a section that helps new projects get off the ground.
Work of student learning filmmaking hardly gets recognition in India, but a 28-minute Nepali language diploma film Gudh by Saurav Rai, a student of Kolkata’s Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute (SRFTI) will be prominently screened. Cannes Short Film Corner will have a feast of 40 Indian short films.
The larger focus will be the mainstream movies and stars. For them, Cannes has clearly emerged as the best spot for the publicity. Here’s how:
Aishwarya Rai: Ms Rai has already reached the Cannes to promote her movie ‘Sarbjit’, so it is just a matter of time before we get to know what she wore at the red carpet. An unspoken ‘contest’ at the red carpet between her, Sonam and new entrant Amy Jackson will keep us engage for a while.
Anurag Kashyap: Kashyaps’ gamcha-clad pictures promoting Gangs of Wasseypur are fresh in our minds, which was premiered at the Cannes few years back. This year, he and Nawazuddin Siddiqui come together to premiere Raman Raghav 2.0 at the Directors’ Fortnight, the parallel section at Cannes.
Mallika Sherawat: She is still a part of the film industry and knows how to make a presence at Cannes. She took to Twitter to rubbish the rumours of her marriage. She will be travelling to Cannes to promote her upcoming Time Raiders, which was reportedly filmed in sub-zero temperature in China.
Baahubali: This film is all set to be screened at Cannes Film Festival as director SS Rajamouli will participate in a seminar on virtual reality and technology movies in Marche du film. The filmmaker may touch upon Baahubali 2, which is underway.
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