Vani Tripathi Tikoo: From 1946, India Has Had a Deep Relationship With Cannes Film Festival | Exclusive

India has been participating at the Cannes Film Festival in some capacity from its debut edition in 1946. This year was extra special, as the 75th edition of Cannes coincided with the 75th year of India’s independence. India was also invited as the country of honour by the Marche du Film, the film market which runs parallel to the Cannes Film Festival.

We saw a large Indian delegation representing our cinema and taking conversations forward this year. Vani Tripathi Tikoo, actress, producer and CBFC Board member and a former member of the IFFI steering committee, was a proud part of the Indian delegation this year. She spoke to News18 about India’s relationship with Cannes over the years and the achievements that were made at the festival this year.

My relationship with Cannes dates back to 1999

Cannes and I have a very old relationship. I was an official delegate in 2018, with Prasoon Joshi. We had opened certain centers of conversation about IFI and the co-production market. My relationship goes back even earlier – in 1999 I’d done a French-Italian film, where I was the only Indian actor and it was in the festival. So I probably have a very old relationship and through the years I kept going to Cannes. Now, of course, I’m also a producer, I’m not just an actor. So, my gaze of looking at the festival is also very cinema-centric.

75 meets 75

This year was of course a very big year because this was the 75th year of Cannes Film Festival. Marche du Film, which is the Cannes market, invited India as the country of honour. This was the first time that this had happened. It’s also the 75th year of India’s independence. So very, very timely.

Neecha Nagar won the Grand Prix in 1946

In 1946, when Chetan Anand took Neecha Nagar to Cannes and won the Grand Prix, which is now the Palme d’Or (highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival), India was in the throes of becoming a new nation. So Cannes and India share a very deep relationship. From 1946 to now, it’s been a long way both for the festival and for us as a country.

First time an official delegation walked the red carpet

I’m deeply thankful to Shri Anurag Thakur and to the Ministry for having thought of me. But for me, it was also a momentous occasion because my country was the country of honour for the first time and an official delegation walked the red carpet together. It has never happened before I think. Red carpets are always about individual appearances or film-centric. But a delegation is not generally seen. So I think that’s a matter of prestige.

Cannes supports independent cinema

What came up in one of the conversations with the Honorable Minister was that the superstar industry of India is very well-endowed with where it places itself. But Cannes is a plethora of independent cinema. This is where that filmmaker who probably cannot ride the 100 crore club in India makes a mark. When you look at Lunchbox, Masaan, and Gangs of Wasseypur, you realize that Cannes celebrates the independent part of cinema.

6 films from independent filmmakers were taken from India

So we selected six films including Rocketry – which is R Madhavan’s debut film as a director, writer and a producer – and five other friends from large Indian languages. We decided to sell our property there, which means that the Indian Panorama which happens in the Indian International Film Festival of India (IFFI) requires attention internationally. This is very much an understood reality that these films should also go to another festival. Berlinale has been supporting a lot of this. But at Cannes this year we made a conscious decision of not taking huge budget films. The benefit a young filmmaker can get from the market screening at Cannes, he will probably never be able to get it again if the support doesn’t happen now. Some bit of government support always helps a filmmaker find a path ahead.

India as a global content hub, benefits at IFFI

I moderated a large session, where the Minister did the keynote, which was about India as a global content hub. Apart from that, we had a lot of meetings with film funds, producers and film commissions, also at the co-production market. We will try to bring in a lot of elements from Cannes to IFFI in November this year.

Representing Indian textiles at Cannes

I think nothing presents Indian women better than a saree. I wore sarees for all the events at Cannes. I got tremendous support and love for wearing that gorgeous blue silk saree at the red carpet. I wanted to bring the attention to how hard our weavers work. That was a silk saree from Bangalore directly from the source.

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