London: Shabana Azmi was bang on when she took to twitter to warn a star-smitten audience to stop going crazy about the ‘clothes parade’ at the Cannes festival. In her tweet, she pointed at fact about Cannes being a serious business and much more than a glamorous event that it is projected to be. “How about focusing on films and filmmakers,” she suggested in her tweet.
Cannes craze started when Shah Rukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai’s visit the festival for the screening of Sanjay Leela Bhansali directed Devdas in 2002.
SRK’s global appeal coupled Aishwarya’s irresistible glamour had got the film loving Indian population get permanently glued to Festival De Cannes.
Ever since, Cannes became an yearly attraction to watch the dolled up Bollywood divas walk the red carpet. With each passing year, the knowledge of an average Indian’s fashion quotient has increased as the awareness about fashion designers and luxury make up brand has progressed.
Aishwarya Rai slipped into more than a dozen stunning outfits as she attended amFAR Gala dinner and UN Women summit, dominated by Salma Hayek. In between her busy schedule consisting of interviews and press conferences, she sneaked out time to talk about Aaradhya, who incidentally turned 3 and half while in Cannes.
Sonam Kapoor’s yellow feathery dress drew a lot of attention for creating ‘Rihanna moment’at Met Gala. Rihanna’s yellow outfit was compared to a cheese omelette while Sonam’s exorbitantly prized Ellie Saab gown was compared to everything from a haystack to a hatched chic, in the memes. Besides vending L’oreal Paris, Sonam released Michelin star chef Vikas Khanna’s cook book ‘Utsav-A Culinary Epic.’
The coffee table discussion also drifted to the first time Katrina Kaif, for inviting the ire of the fashionista for her hair red.
The ‘flatgate controversy’ revolving around women wearing flat shoes not allowed at the red carpet was another incident that confirmed Cannes inclination towards glamour at red carpet. Among those who condemned on the bizarre unofficial rule was Indian origin Amy documentary director Asif Kapadia. He tweeted about his wife being turned back from the red carpet for not wearing high heels. Kapadia’s wife eventually let in, and that pretty much confirmed that Cannes will remain the most stylish events of our times.
Indian films’ have never really been in the race so far as the Cannes award functions are concerned. Chetan Anand’s Neecha Nagar, starring Uma Anand, Kamini Kaushal, Rafiq Ahmed and Zohra Sehgal remains the only film in the history to have won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1946-the first Cannes Film Festival.
Ironically for India that produces maximum number of films each year, we have had no representation when it comes to contesting with the world cinema.
It was disappointing to note the hugely talented Richa Chadda, who has twice been to Cannes for the screening of her film was trying to match steps with glam divas at the red carpet. The actress who previously went to Cannes for the screening of Anurag Kashyap film Gangs of Wasseypur, one again came in the forefront with screening of Neeraj Ghyawan directed Masaan.
The film got standing ovation at the Un Certain Regard, but, the star struck audience were too busy tweeting about red carpet fashion circus.
Despite being applauded for her work in the film Richa could not resist the temptation of grabbing attention for her fashion sense. Going by the trend, she did post pictures draped in a Sabyasachi saree and in a printed short dress by Giles.
Fashion parade has not just irked Shabana Azmi, but, a whole lot of other serious cinema lovers who wanted to know more on Todd Hayne’s lesbian drama Carol, Matteo Garrone’s Tale of Tales or Italian drama Mia Madre. And it’d surely have been interesting to see a discussion on the cerebral cinema that Cannes has always been known for. That’s precisely what Ms Azmi was referring to.
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