India, the Country of Honour at Cannes Film Festival, makes its presence felt and how!

The 75th edition of the Cannes Film Festival was inaugurated on May 17. In a first of its kind, India has been designated as the Country of Honour and an Indian delegation led by I&B Minister Anurag Thakur has joined the festival this year.

The delegation includes Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Prasoon Joshi, Shekhar Kapur, AR Rahman, R Madhavan, Ricky Kej, Vani Thripathi and others. Actor Kamal Haasan was also spotted at Cannes. He was present to unveil his movie Vikram’s NFTs at the prestigious film festival. This time the Indian pavilion at the Cannes Film Market will present six films at the festival Rocketry – The Nambi Effect (Hindi, English, Tamil), Godavari (Marathi), Alpha Beta Gamma (Hindi), Boomba Ridea (Mishing), Dhuin (Maithili) and Niraye Thathakalulla Maram (Malayalam).

‘India content hub of the world’

Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur made a pitch for India becoming a “content hub of the world” and the preferred “post-production hub” for global filmmakers as he led a star-studded delegation to the Marche du Films at the 75th Cannes Film Festival, where India is the ‘First Country of Honour’.

He walked the Cannes red carpet with celebrities from the world of Indian cinema. They included acclaimed actors Nawazuddin Siddiqui and R. Madhavan, music maestro A.R. Rahman, filmmaker Shekhar Kapur, and noted lyricist and Censor Board chief Prasoon Joshi. Appropriately, the minister described it as “a historic moment” for India.

Man in Black

Actor R. Madhavan looked every inch handsome as he wore a classic black suit by renowned celebrity fashion designer Manish Malhotra for his appearance at the 75th Cannes Film Festival. Madhavan is attending the event as his film Rocketry: The Nambi Effect will have its world premiere at the festival. For the red carpet, Madhavan chose a tux with sequins at the collar paired with a classic crisp white shirt and bow tie.

Urvashi Rautela turns Snow White

Actress Urvashi Rautela has made her red carpet debut at Cannes and she looked every inch a Disney princess dressed in a pristine white outfit. Urvashi took to Instagram to share a glimpse of her stunning gown by Tony Ward Couture. The actress chose a white off-shoulder ruffle gown with a long trail.

Rahman’s Le Musk has its world premiere

Music maestro AR Rahman donned his debutant director’s hat, premiering his virtual reality film, Le Musk, at the Cannes Film Market’s Cannes XR programme, which focuses on cinematographic content that uses immersive technologies. Taking to Instagram, he shared a picture of people wearing AR/VR headsets watching the film sitting in their immersive VR chairs. —IANS & TMS

All eyes on Deepika Padukone

It was Kolkata-based acclaimed fashion designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee’s Bengal Tiger sari that Deepika Padukone dazzled in as she walked the red carpet on the opening night of the Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday. The sari, which the actress and Cannes jury member paired with a black strapless blouse, stood out because of its golden and black stripes, inspired by the big cat after which the collection is named. Earlier during the day, she had appeared for the jury photocall also in a Sabyasachi ensemble of lime green pants and jaunty shirt.

As was to be expected, the ecstatic designer took to his Instagram handle to announce this fact to the world and say that the sari was a part of his Akash Tara collection, which celebrates heritage Indian crafts and techniques seen through a modern lens.

Deepika paired the sari with a bejewelled headband from Sabyasachi Jewellery’s Royal Bengal collection. “The headband,” the designer said, “pays homage to the traditional Indian ‘matha patti’ headpiece with Art Noveau detailing, while the chandelier earrings update a classic with an Art Noveau gaze.” The actress rounded off her retro look with bold and black eyeliner, black manicure, nude lips and a hair bun.

Bubble look

Tamannaah Bhatia, who also joined the festival on Day 1, opted for a bubble hem Gauri and Nainika gown featuring trail. The actress looked ravishing in a body-hugging gown, featuring a larger-than-life white trail that amped up the monochrome look.

Hollywood stars on red carpet who were hard to miss

Deepika Padukone may have had her followers riveted to her Instagram handle, making one sartorial statement after another at Cannes, but the world media just couldn’t stop talking about Desperate Housewives star Eva Langoria’s red carpet appearance on the opening evening the Palais des Festivals. According to an article, “Eva was sure to steal the show in her sweeping gown which featured a semi-sheer ruffled skirt, sequins and thin spaghetti straps. The star teamed the number with a black and diamond choker, while a pair of killer black heels were seen beneath her skirt.”

Also a part of the opening glamour parade was the English actress Lashana Lynch, who was seen most recently as one of the Illuminati of Earth-838 in Dr Strange in the Multiverse of Madness after playing MI6 agent Nomi in the James Bond film, No Time to Die.

The actress looked striking in a high-necked white Fendi Couture gown which featured an intricate beaded pattern throughout. She added “an array of jewellery to her look, including dazzling diamond and emerald drop earrings as well as a sparkling ring and bracelet.”

Elsewhere, Hollywood legend Julianne Moore got the photographers into a tizzy as she appeared in a classic satin gown with a low neckline and drop waist, teamed with a showstopping diamond and emerald necklace.

Indian films @Cannes2022

• R Madhavan’s directorial debut Rocketry: The Nambi Effect is a biographical drama. Madhavan plays the titular role in this film based on the life of Nambi Narayanan, a former scientist and aerospace engineer who was falsely accused of espionage.
• Jayaraj’s Malayalam film Tree Full of Parrots (Niraye Thathakalulla Maram) delineates the quest of an eight-year-old boy Poonjan, who tries to find the way to a lost blind man’s home. Narayanan Cherupazhassi and Adithyan lead this poignant tale of compassion also written by Jayaraj.
• Achal Mishra directorial Hindi-Marathi bilingual Dhuin has the lead protagonist Pankaj, a small-town theatre actor choose between dreams of making it big in Mumbai and the obligations to his family reeling under a financial strain post the lockdown. The film has Abhinav Jha, Bijay Kumar Sah and Prashant Rana in cast.
• Comedy Boomba Ride is about the struggle of the teachers to keep a school alive as it has only one student. Directed by Biswajeet Bora, it is based on a true story. The film is in a rare Mishing dialect.
• Another directorial debut, Alpha Beta Gamma is a Hindi romantic comedy helmed by Shankar Srikumar.
• Nikhil Mahajan’s Godavari is a Marathi-language drama with Neena Kulkarni, Jitendra Joshi and Vikram Gokhale as cast.
• Satyajit Ray’s Pratidwandi (The Adversary) 1970 gets an exclusive screening at Cannes this year.

* Restored version of the film Thampu, directed by late G. Aravindan’s directorial, rechristened Thamp, is to be screened in the Cannes Classics Section.

• Music composer AR Rahman dons debutant director’s hat with Le Musk. A virtual reality film, Le Musk makes an appearance at the Cannes Film Market’s Cannes XR programme.

* And, there is more. NFDC Film Bazaar Goes to Cannes line-up has five works-in-progress — Assamese-Moran film Baghjan by Jaicheng Zxai Dohutia; Hindi-Chhattisgarhi film Bailadila by Shailendra Sahu; Ektara Collective’s Ek Jagah Apni; Harshad Nalawade’s Marathi-Kannada-Hindi film Follower and Jai Shankar’s Kannada film Shivamma.

* Also, few new Indian film projects looking for global breakthroughs as a part of either the Cannes Film Festival or Marche du Film has FTII student Gourab Kumar Mullick’s Starfruits. It is among nine fiction films and one documentary shortlisted for La Fabrique les cinemas du monde.