Festival de Cannes has begun in the city that inspired the French film festival’s name. And you know what that means, don’t you? You, along with every single uncle and aunty in your neighbourhood are about to become fashion critics.
With the natural born inclination to comment on society ki ladkiya, all of us will be nitpicking and rating the various ‘looks’ (female) celebs would be putting on display. Because that’s what the Cannes Festival is all about in our world, is it not?
Cannes to us, is that time of the year when we haaaw over Aishwarya’s pregnancy weight, judge Sonam for not wearing Indian designers, wonder who let Mallika Sherawat attend the event, and basically ooh-aah over everything that has got nothing to do with why the fest is held in the first place.
Now in its 71st year, Cannes may be a prestigious film festival whose approbation can skyrocket a movie’s appeal, but for Indians, it is just another opportunity to play Clothes Tinder.
A mere few days ago Kangana Ranaut, Breaker of Nepotism and the Queen of Weird Controversy, declared that “focussing only on fashion at Cannes reduces its scope dramatically.” Adding that “Cannes is a lot more than a mere red-carpet event.”
Those of us who cannot differentiate between sequins and gota-kari and rather like films, nodded vehemently. And then she showed up this morning looking decidedly ‘Hepburn-ish’ in a black Sabyasachi saree. Such grace, much Indian. Woh bhi in France. Of course, we swiped right while also feeling slightly boggled.
But even as the Indian media went into overdrive side-drooling at her ‘look’, we wondered what about Cannes made our celebs succumb to the red carpet pressure.
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan at Cannes Film Festival 2017 (Courtesy: Twitter/L’Oréal Paris India)
It was of course Aishwarya Rai, who first became a permanent fixture at Cannes. When her film Devdas was showcased here in 2002, it came as no surprise to anyone that it was Rai and not the movie that made headlines back home.
Every aspect of the Neeta Lulla saree Aishwarya wore in 2012 was scrutinised down to the glittering bead-work. Then in 2003, she appeared in a series of unfortunate looks, thereby triggering a game of ‘What Will She Wear Next’. In the years that have followed, it is safe to say that the unprecedented interest and scrutiny of Rai’s erratic wardrobe choices has helped many a media house in hitting their monthy targets. It therefore came as no surprise when L’oreal added two more big names to keep the momentum going with first Sonam Kapoor and now Deepika Padukone.
This year, Nandita Das’ long anticipated Manto starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Rohena Gera’s Sir, Assamese film Village Rockstars by Rima Das, Malayalam film Bhayanakam by director Jayaraj, Sandeep Pampally’s Sinjar (in a Malayali dialect), Kaushik Ganguli’s Nagar Kirtan will be showcased in various categories.
But now that Ranaut – who is in Cannes at the invitation of the Union Minister for I&B Smriti Irani and CBFC Chairman Prasoon Joshi – has succumbed to the red carpet frenzy as well, it certainly looks like we’ve little hope of discussing films over fashion.
Time to mute your Whatsapp family groups. Those god-awful forwards and sexist memes are coming.
