Click here to follow Screen Digital on YouTube and stay updated with the latest from the world of cinema.
Tags:
Filmmaker Ashim Ahluwalia spent a year with the C-grade film industry that offers a potent mix of sex and violence but finds itself at the bottom of the ladder. A decade ago,it became a subject for his documentary. But its members refused to face the camera and I had to drop my project, he recalls. The subject remained close to his heart. He finally decided to weave a fictional plot about two brothers as C-grade film producers and put his research to use. Miss Lovely is now the second film after Vikramaditya Motwanes Udaan in 2010 to be selected in the competitive category at the Festival de Cannes this year,to be held between May 16 and 27. It will compete with movies by renowned directors such as Catherine Corsini,Joachim Lafosse and Pablo Trapero.
In the past,Indias presence at Cannes was measured by its glamourous celebrities. This year,Indian cinema will compete with red-carpet glamour. Anurag Kashyaps Gangs of Wasseypur at Directors Fortnight section; Vasan Balas Peddlers at Cannes Critics Week; Nilosree Biswass Broken Memory,Shining Dust in the short film corner and Shivajee Chandrabhushans ongoing project The Untold Tale at L Atelier thats the Indian line-up for Cannes 2012.
Till recently,the festival was seen as a platform for popular Indian filmmakers and actors to market their fare. In 2010,Mallika Sherawat infamously kissed a python on the red carpet to promote Hissss. That year,Aishwarya Rai,Abhishek Bachchan and Vikram walked the red carpet for Mani Ratnams Raavan. Last year,director Madhur Bhandarkar made a high-pitched announcement regarding his next project,Heroine.
This time,cinema will speak louder than marketing gimmicks. The screening of Kashyaps two-part gangster film,Gangs of Wasseypur that unfolds over six hours and spans three generations,could become a high point. He scores a double bill as Peddlers backed by his own banner,Anurag Kashyap Films,and directed by his assistant director Vasan Bala,will have seven screenings on May 21-23. It is the third film I wrote that Anurag rejected. That drove me to do a good job and I made the film on my own,using crowd-funding, reminisces Bala. Kashyap saw its first edit and decided to finance it,then pitched it to Cannes. Films such as Broken Memory,Shining Dust (on Kashmiri half-widows) and The Untold Tale (a Spanish girls search for her Indian roots) facilitate the interface of these filmmakers with potential financiers.
Of course,Bollywood glamour will do its bit with Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan completing a decade at Cannes as the face for LOreal. This time,she will will travel with her five-month-old daughter,Aaradhya. However,it is unlikely that Cannes will be the platform for the babys first public appearance. Aishwarya has not yet decided on who will dress her up. But she is keen on Indianwear,keeping her post-pregnancy weight in mind, says a source close to the Bachchans. While Rai-Bachchan was among the first Indians to be invited at Cannes,more and more beauties from Bollywood have gone that way. Style diva Sonam Kapoor,also a brand ambassador for LOreal,who made her debut on the red carpet last year,is likely to attend the festival this year as well.
Click here to follow Screen Digital on YouTube and stay updated with the latest from the world of cinema.
