Cannes 2022: Union Minister Anurag Thakur, Madhavan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Others Shine on Red Carpet

Dressed in traditional ethnic wear, the 11-member Indian delegation led by Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur on Tuesday walked the red carpet at the opening ceremony of the Cannes Film Festival in France, where India has been named as the ‘country of honour’ at the Marche du Film, the business counterpart of the gala.

I&B Minister Thakur opted for a cream-coloured bandhgala for the event as he walked the carpet along with music maestro A R Rahman, actors R Madhavan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui, composer Ricky Kej, lyricist and poet Prasoon Joshi, and veteran director Shekhar Kapur to attend the screening of the opening film “Coupez" (Final Cut) by French director Michel Hazanavicius. Thakur also took to Twitter to share a series of pictures from the event and wrote: “A historic moment as India the 1st ‘Country of Honour’ at Marche Du Films @Festival_Cannes gets set to manifest into the ‘content hub of the world and the preferred ‘post-production hub’ for global filmmakers."

Mame Khan, the traditional Manganiyar singer from Rajasthan, became the first folk artiste to open the red carpet event for the Indian contingent at Cannes.

Ambassadors from regional cinemas were part of the delegation, sending the signal to the world that India – which boasts of 25 regional film industries – has many different flavours and styles to offer in terms of film production.

R Madhavan, an actor and producer who worked in movies in six different languages, and Telugu superstars Tamannah Bhatia and Pooja Hegde also made dazzling appearances as part of the delegation.

Vani Tripathi Tikoo, actress and member of the Central Board of Film Certification , was also part of the Indian delegation to the festival, which is special this year for its celebration of Indian cinema.

India is also a country of honour’ at the ‘Cannes Next’, under which five new startups would be given an opportunity to pitch to the audio-visual industry.

Ten professionals will participate on the Animation Day networking. As a major highlight of India’s participation at this edition of the Cannes Film Festival, the World Premiere of the movie Rocketry, produced by R Madhavan, is scheduled to be showcased at the Palais des Festivals on May 19.

(With inputs from PTI)

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