Highlights:
- Minister L Murugan inaugurates India Pavilion at the 73rd Cannes Film Festival.
- This Pavilion will showcase India’s strong storytelling tradition and its potential as a global content creator.
- Prominent film personalities, including Sara Ali Khan, Madhur Bhandarkar, Vijay Varma, Manushi Chillar, and Esha Gupta, were present at the event.
L Murugan, the Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, inaugurated the India Pavilion at the 76th Cannes Film Festival, joined by a group of prominent Indian personalities, including Sara Ali Khan, Khushbu Sundar, Madhur Bhandarkar, Vijay Varma, Manushi Chillar, and Esha Gupta.
We are witnessing an era where Indian content is going from local to global. The Indian government recognizes the importance of the film industry and is providing an environment for its growth and development: MoS I&B, @Murugan_MoS, at the Inaugural session of the India Pavilion… pic.twitter.com/0ZcB1qp451
— Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (@MIB_India) May 18, 2023
During the event, Murugan emphasized India’s rich tradition of storytelling, which is gaining recognition worldwide. He highlighted the increasing presence of Indians in the making of Hollywood films and expressed confidence in India’s creative economy. Addressing the media, the minister said, “You will not find too many Hollywood films these days that do not have names of Indians in the credits, especially in the VFX and animation departments.” He further added that the foundations of “our creative economy” are so strong that “India is well placed to become the world’s leading content creator”.
Guillaume Esmiol, the executive director of the Cannes Marche du Film, also graced the opening day of the festival. Esmiol acknowledged the growing interconnectedness of Indian cinema with the global movie industry, emphasizing India’s significance to the festival.
Jawed Ashraf, India’s ambassador to France and the Principality of Monaco, delivered a keynote address, where he said: “Cinema is intricately, and inextricably, linked to the lives of the people of India.” He further added that “Our movie industry is doing a job that diplomats are meant to do: making the world dance to India’s tune.” He praised the film industry for effectively representing India on the world stage.
Later, Sara Ali Khan took the opportunity to address the audience, where she said, “I think as a nation maybe we are not doing enough, and we should be even more proud and vocal of the culture that we do have, that we should be able to bring to the rest of the world. Cinema and art transcend language, regions, nationalities.”
Sara has been making waves at the festival with her fashionable looks. On the first day, she donned an Abu Jani Sandeep Khosla lehenga, which received both praise and criticism for its simplicity and traditional style.
