Aishwarya Rai is truly a global star: Madhur Bhandarkar

It’s the first time that I am attending the Cannes International Film Festival and though I’ve always heard about it, it’s not until you step on the red carpet here that the enormity of the event engulfs you.

The place is abuzz with people so passionate about their cinema that you automatically feel a part of it, even if it’s your first time.

What I will be wearing has never been so detailed, but this time around, I wore a tuxedo for the dinner event. Earlier in the day, Ronnie (Screvwala) and I had launched our film Heroine, starring Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan and the response was phenomenal.

It was really something that took me by surprise and I was overwhelmed with the kind of curiosity that the promos created.

Rai is a much-talked about actress internationally and I think she truly is a global star in every sense.

What I was then looking forward to was meeting some of the greats in international cinema, people whose works have inspired me to become a filmmaker in the first place — filmmakers like Woody Allen and actors like Robert De Niro. Penelope Cruz is also an actress that I was looking forward to meeting, I’ve liked several of her films.

But more than anything else I was soaking in the experience that the festival had to offer. I have been to many film festivals before, but this one took the cake when it came to grandeur and glamour.

What had me equally excited was the strong presence of Bollywood there this time around. People were aware of our cinema and it made me so proud to be there, talking about our cinema just as proudly as anyone from Hollywood or any other world cinema would.

I realised that we offer a rather unique kind of cinema, but then that’s also our strength. How many can try and do it as successfully after all? It is also inspiring for filmmakers to make films that can generate a buzz internationally, especially the Indie-filmmakers.