Seventy-five years has a nice, solid ring to it. And after two years of Covid, a film festival on the ground feels even more of a celebration. The 75th edition of the Cannes Film Festival opens with its usual fanfare: red carpet galas at the Palais, stars sweeping down the Croisette, and film press lining up for much-anticipated goodies. It’s May, it’s Cannes, and all’s right with the world.
India is the ‘county of honour’ at the Marche du Cinema, the film market which runs adjacent to the festival, a giant bee-hive thronged by buyers and sellers and agents. This year, six Indian films will be officially screened at the market: R Madhavan’s ‘Rocketry The Nambi Effect’, Nikhil Mahajan’s ‘Godavari’, Achal Mishra’s ‘Dhuin’, Shankar Shrikumar’s ‘Alpha Beta Gamma’, Biswajeet Bora’s ‘Boomba Ride’, Jayaraj’s ‘Tree Full of Parrots’.
Deepika Padukone walked the red carpet in a gold and black saree at the opening ceremony of the 75th Cannes Film Festival. Urvashi Rautela and Tamannaah Bhatia too were seen at their stylish best as they walked the Cannes red carpet.
Indian actor Deepika Padukone is a part of the jury at the prestigious film festival. “While it does feel like a personal victory, it also feels like a slightly larger victory for the South Asian community… We can literally count on our fingertips the number of times anyone from India has been on the jury or has had the opportunity to represent the country at a platform such as this,” Deepika said.