Bollywood at the red carpet at Cannes but Indian films missing

Cannes Film Festival, as always, attracted some of the world’s most celebrated actors, and one could spot a few Indian celebrities on its red carpets too. As many as 1,854 feature films were submitted to be part of the 2019 Official Selection at the Cannes Film Festival from across the world this year. As many as 39 nations are represented as production or co-production countries. India is missing in the film section but is famous for making a splash on the red carpet by the Bollywood beauties.

This time around, the annual festival was attended by the likes of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Deepika Padukone, Sonam Kapoor Ahuja and Priyanka Chopra and her hubby Nick Jonas, among others, and it also marked the Cannes debut of the TV actor Hina Khan. The ”˜Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai’ actor Hina is entering Indian cinema with her film ”˜Lines’. A story of Nazia, a strong, young girl portrayed by Khan living on the country’s border (LoC). The film shares her everyday struggles and problems, and will also star Farida Jalal.

For her Cannes appearance Hina Khan went all out with her ensemble, picking a grey embellished Ziad Nakad gown with dramatic sleeves. 

Deepika Padukone sans Ranveer went all lime green on the red carpet when she said that you either go with a film at Cannes or ”˜you slay on the carpet’ and she is back in Mumbai to work as an acid-attack victim in ”˜Chhapaak’.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan wore her favourite red carpet silhouette with a billowing gown from Columbia-based label, Leal Daccarett. Filmmaker Onir questioned, “What are we supposed to celebrate about Cannes 2019? The cinema that’s being celebrated or just the clothes our actors wear and the parties they attend? Somehow that is all that seems to be talked about.”

Barring the overwhelming red carpet or party looks of Bollywood actresses making a splash on social media, an India Pavilion, organised by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and Ficci, is doing its bit to forge international partnerships in distribution, production, pitch India as a shooting destination and promoting film sales and syndication.

National Award-winning filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar, who is a part of the government-led delegation, found it “unfortunate” that Indian cinema had no presence at the gala, but said the prerogative of the festival line-up lies on the jury.

Although the world watches Indian cinema in great number, to make inroads into such a festival as Cannes, Bhandarkar said it was essential that Indian filmmakers follow the Satyajit Ray and Ritwik Ghatak kind of cinema with “Cannes value”.

From Australia Anupam Sharma’s documentary on the marathon runner Pat Farmer’s run from Kanyakumari to Kashmir has been snapped up by Phoenix Worldwide who have already sold it to Slovenia and Italy as international buyers get first taste of the film at Cannes Film Festival.

First premiering at the 2018 Newcastle International Film Festival to critical acclaim, The Run is a feature length documentary which follows Pat Farmer’s test of human spirit and behind the scenes drama as he runs the length of India. Covering 12 states and passing through cities like Mumbai, Surat, Ahmedabad, Udaipur, Ajmer, Jaipur, Agra, New Delhi and Chandigarh, the 80 kilometre a day journey took Farmer 64 days to complete with the backdrop of the colourful, enchanting, challenging, organized chaos of India.

Producer/director Anupam Sharma said: “We were hoping to sell a few territories directly and didn’t expect a worldwide sales agent to pick this up, so it is a delight that a company of the stature of Phoenix is going to be selling my film around the world. I am genuinely excited at the possibility of audiences around the world watching this diverse Australian story made possible with government support from Australia and India, completed with help from Screen Australia’s PEP program for low budget films. I am genuinely excited at the possibility of audiences around the world watching this diverse Australian story made possible with government support from Australia and India, completed with help from Screen Australia’s PEP program for low budget films.”

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