Anurag Thakur leads Indian delegation to Cannes

Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur is leaving for France Monday night to attend the Cannes Film Festival, where India has been named as the ‘country of honour’ for ‘Marche du Film’, the business counterpart of the marquee event.

Thakur is set to walk the Red Carpet at the Festival on Tuesday evening, and also participate in the Opening Night festivities of Marche Du Film at the Majestic Beach on Wednesday.

Top personalities from the entertainment business including A R Rahman, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Nayanthara Pooja Hegde, Prasoon Joshi, R Madhavan, Ricky Kej, Shekhar Kapur, Tamannaah Bhatia, Vani Tripathi and folk singer Mame Khan are to be part of the delegation led by Thakur to the Cannes Film Festival.

”Honoured to represent India at Marche Du Film at the Cannes Film Festival,” Tamannaah, a leading actor in Telugu and Tamil films, said on Twitter.

Popular actor Akshay Kumar too was part of the official delegation, but had to opt out after he tested positive for Covid-19.

As one of the highlights of India’s status as the Country of Honour, a special screening of a restored Indian classic Pratidwandi, directed by Satyajit Ray, has been planned as part of the Festival’s Cannes Classics selection. In addition, world premieres of a selection of Indian films will be held at the Olympia Cinema.

India will be showcasing five movies – Baghjan (Assamese) by Jaicheng Zxai Dohutia, Bailadila (Chhattisgarhi) by Shailendra Sahu, Ek Jagah Apni (Hindi) by Ektara collective, Follower (Marathi) by Harshad Nalawde and Shivamma (Kannada) by Jai Shankar – under the ”Goes to Cannes Section”. These movies are part of the Work In Progress lab under the Film Bazaar.