Alia Bhatt – ‘Princess Cannes’ and our two viral videos (nearly five million views!)
Cannes 6pm CET (4.30pm BST)
She has broken through in a way that merits attention…not that we are biased…??
THERE are no prizes for who has conquered Cannes in just these two days since the festival started.
Maybe we should say Indian that is… but maybe not…
Bollywood actor Alia Bhatt has simply slayed it, in modern parlance. She doesn’t have a film at Cannes…
Are we biased? Probably…
Have you seen the response to our two Reels of the star – one was an almost interview – Bhatt had just left the Bharat (India) pavilion which she had helped to inaugurate.
She cut the ribbon alongside the Ashutosh Gowariker – the newly appointed director of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) and undoubtedly one of India’s most respected filmmakers.
It was his ‘Lagaan’ that created history when it became the first Indian/Hindi film to feature at the modern Oscars – nominated in the foreign language category.
Bhatt was on her way out, evading the scrum that formed around her as she left the pavilion building, a few intrepid souls (such as we are) followed her – not for any other good reason that when she talks to us – she is talking to you…
Bhatt is here as L’Oréal Paris ambassador principally and her reputation has been hugely bolstered in just 48 hours. Only Cannes has the power as a film festival to do that.
We don’t just want to cover stories – we want to be part of them…
Our Reel is heading towards five million views as of today 6pm CET (9.30pm IST/5pmBST/12pm ET/9amPTZ) we put all those times don, because we are pretty sure views are global and centred around these major diaspora conurbations.
Even our Reel of her entering the Martinez Hotel stands at nearly 100K views as of a similar time.
And it is not only Indian social media or diaspora audiences who have been clocking her every move.
International coverage has largely folded Bhatt into Cannes’ wider luxury-and-cinema conversation, focusing on her poise, fashion authority and growing recognition well beyond South Asia.
Reports and style round-ups highlighted her L’Oréal Paris ambassadorial presence, the old-Hollywood drama of her Tamara Ralph gown and the way she brought Indian inflections into classic Riviera glamour.
In Western-facing coverage, she has been framed less as a Bollywood curiosity than as a global celebrity learning to command this particular stage with assurance.
Just as telling has been the reaction to the Reel of her leaving the Bharat Pavilion, which has travelled far beyond niche fan circles. Not just ours – we havent followed the wider reaction. The clip of still inside, showing the crowd tightening around her as she tried to move through the scrum, became a flashpoint for wider discussion: some read it as evidence of intense interest and chaotic celebrity culture, while others linked it to the parallel debate over whether international photographers were fully tuned in to her presence when she walked the red carpets. Some say the photographers really didn’t know who she was – she has been here before but the compere didn’t announce her on the first evening and that didn’t help us either… we were there precisely to record her Red Carpet Opening Day formal look. We did get her – see our YouTube clip below…
Either way, our Reels did what viral Cannes moments do best – it widened the conversation.
It pushed Bhatt beyond fashion-watch coverage into the rougher arena of global celebrity scrutiny, and that in itself is a marker of arrival.
She is a Cannes phenomenon.
It reminds us of the days when we used to interview Aishwarya Rai Bachchan (2015-2017) within a year or two, people would ask whether we would be…
L’Oréal Paris changed its media strategy – back in the day it wasn’t so difficult.
Now everything has to be much in advance and we don’t get a look in – yesterday was an attempt to buck the system – if you watch our video closely you will see what appears to be her L’Oréal Paris minder make a call – you don’t need to be Sherlock Holmes…
So, it became the almost interview…and to be honest we were not the ones who were lined up to ask first… however, stay with us, we don’t think we’re done here on the Indian star front by any means…thanks for all your likes, comments and shares, it’s been truly amazing and a massive reminder of why we we have been coming to Cannes as asianculturevulture since 2012 – first in print for 2013 and then video in 2015.
And why next year it will be Cannes 80 and it will also be ‘Devdas’ 25th anniversary screening… we hope…we will leave that to your not so wild imagination…
And by then will have definitely read all the comments by then too! Nearly 500 of them at 6pm CET. Likes stand at 97K…
Sailesh Ram, editor and founder of www.asianculturevulture.com
.Our earlier non-interview Reel
https://www.instagram.com/p/DYRc6djizYc/?hl=en
