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Frill Seekers

Rihanna wore it back in 2017. Last year, J Lo wore a hotter, pinker version of it for the premiere of her movie Second Act. OTT outfits have been a fashion staple for the stars, so we were not at all surprised when the Bollywood poster-girl of “extra on the red carpet” Deepika Padukone chose a similarly ultra-puffy (and neon green, because why not?) Giambattista Valli Haute Couture gown for her second appearance at the Cannes red carpet this month. Padukone’s satin pink turban accentuated the pink bow on her dress and gave out some serious Carmen Miranda vibes. Which isn’t a bad thing, per se. And while the neon green of her tulle gown didn’t make her look as princess-y as Kacey Musgraves in her pink Valli gown at the 2019 Oscars or as much of a fluffy cloud as Lana Candor at the Met Gala a couple of weeks back, it was still quintessentially Giambattista Valli – whimsical, feminine, statement-making and perfect for Cannes. These fluffy dresses have been a fixture in the Italian designer’s haute couture collections for the past few years. His Fall/Winter 2019-20 collection had at least a dozen such designs, including the dresses worn by Musgraves and Candor. And while Rihanna, J Lo, Musgraves, Candor and Araya Hargate (pictured below) all won rave reviews for their sartorial choices, Padukone’s outfit was a bit more divisively received by the fashion world this time round. Being called a “tall loofah” certainly isn’t flattering, but we’re sure she doesn’t give a hoot about what people think of her outfits when she’s getting paid to travel to the French Riviera, wear designer gowns and be the spokesmodel for a legacy brand like L’Oreal. You keep doing you, Padukone!

SNEHA KHALE

BEYOND THE CANNES RED CARPET: WHERE ARE INDIAN FILMS?

As many as 1,854 feature films were submitted to be part of the 2019 Official Selection at the Cannes Film Festival from across the world this year. As many as 39 nations are represented as production or co-production countries. India is missing.

Filmmaker Onir rightly questioned, “What are we supposed to celebrate about Cannes 2019... The cinema that’s being celebrated or just the clothes our actors wear and the parties they attend. Somehow that is all that seems to be talked about.”

Barring the overwhelming red carpet or party looks of Bollywood actresses making a splash on social media, an India Pavilion organised by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and FICCI, is doing its bit to forge international partnerships in distribution and production, to pitch India as a shooting destination and promoting film sales and syndication.

India may be one of the largest film producers in the world, but no film from the country made it in the competition categories. There was nothing to boast about in the key sidebars - Director's Fortnight, Un Certain Regard and Critics’ Week this year either, but for one respite - Achyutanand Dwivedi’s three-minute short film Seed Mother which won the third prize in the international section of Nespresso Talents 2019.

National Award-winning filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar, who is a part of the government-led delegation, found it “unfortunate” that Indian cinema had no presence at the gala, but said the prerogative of the festival line-up lies on the jury.

“The jury decides what movies should be shown, and we should respect what they want. We should be proud because people have taken India seriously in terms of our cinema and our digital content. People are watching Indian cinema in a big way. They know our stars very well,” Bhandarkar said.

To make inroads into such a festival, Bhandarkar said it was essential that Indian filmmakers follow the Satyajit Ray and Ritwik Ghatak kind of cinema with “Cannes value”.

Mira Nair was the first Indian to win the Camera d’Or in Cannes for Salaam Bombay in 1988. The last Indian film to compete for the coveted Palm D’Or at the prestigious gala was Shaji N. Karun’s Swaham in 1994.

Producer Guneet Monga, who has leveraged the power of co-productions, said creative collaborations with producers across the world play a major role.

“When you get more creative collaborators and you structure films internationally like with Europe, there’s a lot of mentorship that comes with it in terms of storyline and process. That’s what we did with The Lunchbox and Masaan (both of which were shown at Cannes),” Monga said. “I genuinely feel co-productions help with the quality of filmmaking and for a global launch. It challenges us to make better versions of our own stories, and I would highly encourage people to do more co-productions to be able to tell more Indian stories to the world,” said Monga, whose co-production Period. End of Sentence won an Oscar this year.

Actress Huma Qureshi, whose twopart film Gangs Of Wasseypur was showcased at the Director’s Fortnight sidebar at the film jamboree a few years ago, is at the gala this year -representing a dose of “desi girl power” as part of a brand association with Grey Goose.

She told the media, “In 2012, my first film Gangs of Wasseypur was showcased at Cannes, and it was a fine example of an Indian film making waves in the French Riveria. There have been a few others over the years like Masaan and Manto. But the fact is that we as an industry are not making and supporting enough films like these.If we really want to be noticed and showcased at world festivals like Cannes, are we ready to make films where art is celebrated for art’s sake?”

Malayalam filmmaker Sanal Kumar Sasidharan however finds a silver lining in Bollywood stars glittering on the red carpet.

“This is the only reason when a film goes to Cannes, even in a sidebar section, the media gives some attention.”

Radhika Bhirani