New Delhi: As Cannes Film Festival comes calling this year, it’s India at 60 that’ll give Bollywood the edge at the much-awaited event to be held from May 16-27.
Now, what does the number 60 have to do with India at Cannes, you ask? Well, apart from 2007 being India’s 60th year of Independence, it also happens to be the 60th Cannes Film Festival.
So call it plain lucky, India will have the honour of inaugurating the Tous les Cinémas du Monde programme at the festival. Inaugurated in 2005, this programme is dedicated to the presentation of a wide spectrum of the cinematic creation by countries invited by the Festival.
Sadly, this section is independent and not a part of the festival's official selection. In other words, none of the films from India will be in the running for the coveted Palme d'Or award.
But sunny side up, right? This year, India will have two whole days to screen its very best. Among the films selected to be screened at the festival is Ashutosh Gowarikar’s Jodha Akbar, starring Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai, chronicling the life of the great Mughal emperor.
Also to be screened at the event is Rituporno Ghosh’s Dosar, starring Konkona Sen Sharma and Bengali superstar Prosenjit Chatterjee, which portrays the nuances of a crumbling marriage.
And at a big event, can Bollywood’s Big B be far behind? The Last Lear, Amitabh Bachchan’s first English movie, will also be showcased at the festival. Directed by Rituporno Ghosh, the film also stars Preity Zinta and Arjun Rampal.
Last year’s blockbuster Lage Raho Munnabhai and this year’s critically-acclaimed Guru are also part of the exclusive list at Cannes.
And there’s yet more from the Bollywood basket. Watch out for soon-to-be-released Metro, starring Shilpa Shetty, Konkona Sen Sharma and Kay Kay Menon, and Goal, in which couple John Abraham and Bipasha Basu pair up on-screen.
Bollywood bandwagon gets busy
With two weeks to go to the big event, it looks like the big Bollwyood stars can barely hold their excitement. While Shilpa Shetty, Hrithik Roshan, John Abraham and Bipasha Basu are all are lining up to make a trip to the festival to attend the screening of their respective films, Cannes can’t seem to keep away newly-wed Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan either.
But it’s not just the extra Bollywood splash that’ll make news at the event, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi has been invited as a special guest to the inauguration as well. Recently, the Minister was caught in the midst of a controversy with his decision to ban the channels Fashion TV and AXN on the grounds that their programmes were against ‘good taste’ and ‘decency’.
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The Indian connection
After creating much uproar in India, Michael Winterbottom’s A Mighty Heart starring Angelina Jolie and Dan Futterman is also scheduled to be screened at Cannes in the Out of Competition category.
The film, co-produced by Brad Pitt, is based on the life of American journalist Daniel Pearl, who was slain by terrorists in Pakistan four years ago. Parts of the film were shot in India, and during the shoot, a controversy broke out mainly over the conduct of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s bodyguards.
And the award goes to …
Competing for the coveted Palme d'Or award this year are 22 films, and among them are Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof, Coen Brothers’ Rio Grande adventure No Country for Old Men and Gus Van Sant’s Paranoid Park. Interestingly, all three filmmakers have already been honoured with the Palme d'Or in the past.
On the opening night, critically-acclaimed Chinese filmmaker Wong Kar Wai is all set to showcase his first English-language film My Blueberry Nights, starring Jude Law, Ed Harris, Natalie Portman and singer Norah Jones in a story about a woman travelling across America.
So as the filmmakers get ready to showcase their best and the stars get set to sizzle, you watch this space for everything that’ll make news at the big event.
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