India
Sunday the 13th of May is the big day for India at Cannes with Nandita Das’ Manto screening in the Un Certain Regard category in which it competes with 17 other films including some serious challengers like Sergei Loznitsa’s Donbass and Ali Abbasi’s Grans (Border) and crowd favourites like Luis Ortega’s L’Ange (Angel), Wanuri Kahiu’s Rafiki (Friend) and Antoine Desrosieres’A Genoux Les Gars (Sextape). Das alongwith her actors Rasika Dugal, Divya Dutta, Rajshri Deshpande and Tahir Raj Bhasin is already in town with Nawazuddin Siddiqui expected to be here soon.
It is coming a full circle for Das, Siddiqui and Dugal who were in Cannes last year to unveil the poster and play clips from the film at the India Pavilion. In fact, Das first narrated the idea of the film to Siddiqui at Cannes on the steps of Palais de Festivale at an earlier edition of the festival.
Cannes is teeming with Indians this year, much more than 2017. After PVR Juhu and Andheri, the French Riviera seems to have become Bollywood’s favourite first look launch pad. Besides, Dhanush’s first international project The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir, there have been more: T for Tajmahal, The Tashkent Filesand Bhonsle. They are all taking place at the India Pavilion inaugurated with the welcome address from the Indian ambassador Vinay Mohan Kwatra. Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani could not make it (ostensibly because of the Karnataka elections). The members of the delegation included Prasoon Joshi, Chairman of CBFC, Vani Tripathi Tikoo, member CBFC and filmmakers Shaji N. Karun, Jahnu Barua and Bharat Bala. With FICCI taking over from NFDC in managing the pavilion, the focus this year has been on co-production treaties, ease of shooting in India and showcasing Indian language cinema.
