The 75th edition of the prestigious Cannes Film Festival kicked off yesterday, that is, 17th May, at Cannes city located on the French Riviera. Stunning Indian actress Deepika Padukone walked the red carpet as one of the jury members including Asghar Farhadi, Rebecca Hall, Noomi Rapace, etc., for the festival’s main competition segment.
Some prominent Indians who will be present at Cannes 2022 are India’s Minister of Information and Broadcasting minister Anurag Thakur, R. Madhavan, Kamal Haasan, Shekhar Kapur, Prasoon Joshi, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Pooja Hegde, Tamannaah Bhatia, Aditi Rao Hydari, amongst many others.
Earlier this month, it was announced that India was selected as the first Country of Honour at the Cannes Film Market. We had previously reported that Shaunak Sen’s documentary film ‘All That Breathes’ was to be featured in the Special Screenings section at Cannes 2022. Now, let’s have a look at the other Indian films which are a part of the ongoing Cannes film festival.
It was recently reported that six Indian films will be screened at this year’s Cannes out of competition. The list includes R. Madhavan’s much awaited directorial debut film ‘Rocketry: The Nambi Effect’, which is based on the life of former ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan, who was falsely accused of selling confidential information to foreign entities.
Another Indian film is Nikhil Mahajan’s Marathi language arthouse drama ‘Godavari’, which revolves around a family residing on the banks of the titular river in Nashik. Other Indian titles at Cannes 2022 are Achal Mishra’s critically acclaimed 50-minute Maithili drama ‘Dhuin’, Shankar Srikumar’s COVID-set romantic comedy ‘Alpha Beta Gamma’, Assamese rural education dramedy ‘Boomba Ride’, and Jairaj’s Malayalam drama movie ‘Niraye Thathakalulla Maram’ (Tree Full of Parrots).
Moreover, under the ‘NDFC Film Bazaar Goes to Cannes’ segment, Assamese film ‘Baghjan’, Chhattisgarhi film ‘Bailadila’, Hindi film ‘Ek Jagah Apni’, Marathi movie ‘Follower’, and Kannada film ‘Shivamma’ are also purportedly scheduled to be screened at the 75th Cannes.
Besides the aforementioned Indian films, legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray’s 1970 Bengali language drama ‘Pratidwandi’ (The Adversary) will be screened under the Cannes Classics ‘Restoration’ segment. Under the same section, the 1978 National Film Award-winning Malayalam movie ‘Thampu’ (The Circus Tent) will also be screened at Cannes.
Not just that, Oscar winner Indian musician A.R. Rahman’s directorial debut ‘Le Musk’ is also set to premiere at the Cannes’s XR segment. The film features Nora Arnezeder and Guy Burnet in the lead roles. Furthermore, a movie titled ‘Nauha’ helmed by Indian film student Pratham Khurana (from Whistling Woods) will be screened under the Cinefondation segment at Cannes 2022.