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Cannes
French time 6.35pm
Updated with new pictures – 9pm local time Full update tomorrow (May 18)
That Red Carpet will be shimmering…
By Sailesh Ram (@asianculturevul)
Here you go…
9pm….
Deepika's Makeup Decoded: Tint caresse Plum Blossom, True Match Lumi Powder Highlighter in gold, La Palette Nude in beige #LifeAtCannes pic.twitter.com/JdFkGIkuWX
— L'Oréal Paris India (@LOrealParisIn) May 17, 2017
6.35pm
IN ABOUT one hour or so the first images of Deepika Padukone walking arguably the most famous Red Carpet of them all, will be beamed around the world and people will inevitably sigh in admiration…
Cannes.
There are many images associated with what remains the mother of all film festivals really, but this is about a big a set piece as there might be for an India star still very much making her way outside of her homeland.
It was in late March that L’Oreal Paris announced that she was their latest ambassador from India. L’Oreal Paris are one of the sponsors of the festival and just as Cannes itself celebrates 70 years, L’Oreal Paris is marking 20 years of partnership with the festival.
Its oldest India ambassador – in terms of association (and age) – Aishwarya Rai Bachchan hosts a special event on Saturday (May 20) but more of that later.
Back to Deepika who broke through into Hollywood with ‘xXx – Return of Xander Cage’, this year, alongside megstar Vin Diesel.
We're out of words! #LifeAtCannes #DeepikaAtCannes #Cannes2017 pic.twitter.com/jwRgDq3NQm
— L'Oréal Paris India (@LOrealParisIn) May 17, 2017
Her fans have been avidly following her on social media – Instagram and Twitter (she has just over 17 million followers and 18 million respectively).
Her red carpet looks are likely to be kept under wraps until she first emerges from the car and onto that walkway – but L’Oreal or the star may post a teaser.
We will be there to record it when she makes it to the Palais, where the main cinema is in Cannes.
For many, Ash is still the Indian/Asian face at Cannes. She presents a special screening of her 2002 film, ‘Devdas’ which premiered in Cannes that year on Saturday here. Directed by Bollywood auteur Sanjay Leela Bhansali, there is a connection between the director and both Padukone and Rai Bachchan.
Padukone is about to feature in Bhansali’s next film, ‘Padmavati’ – in fact, it is still in production and some thought Bhansali – something of a favourite in France – might come here with ‘Padmavati’, but there have been production issues with politically motivated groups in India disturbing the set and even manhandling the renowned director in Jaipur earlier this year. Famous India critic Anupama Chopra talked about this in our interview with her recently.
Sonam Kapoor is another regular and also enjoys a huge social media following – she has 10 million followers on Twitter and just under that number on Instagram at present. She will be in Cannes later this week.
Not quite so starry, but still with a huge following is music genius AR Rahman. Colleagues tweeted a picture of him earlier. He is here with ‘Sangamithra’ a Tamil film and he is expected to walk the red carpet this evening.
#ARRahman at #Cannes to attend #Sangamitra launch@ThenandalFilms @aditi1231 @arrahman #Sangamithra @MuraliRamasamy4 @Hemarukmani1 pic.twitter.com/pv5BNbEF35
— Kollywood Cinema (@KollywudCinema) May 17, 2017
Elsewhere, Will Smith has already made a splash – we were there as he made his way to the Cannes Film Festival Jury press conference (see pics).
A row has unfolded already about whether NetFlix should be here. It has produced two films at this year’s festival – ‘Okja’ and ‘The Meyorowitz Stories’ but being a web-based streaming platform has not gone down well with French cinema theatres and lodged a protest. Smith argued his children are not any less likely to go to theatres because they watch movies on line. He said it had widened their appreciation of global filmmaking, while jury president Pedro Almodóvar was more circumspect and said he would always want to watch films on the big screen.
Pedro Almodóvar
But tonight it’s about the opening film – ‘Ismael’s Ghosts’ – a French film with a Cannes fave at the helm, Arnaud Desplechin. The festival officially starts 7.15pm French time, the music for the Red Carpet is just starting…
