Judge Arundhati Roy only Indian entry at Cannes

By Bhaichand Patel
CANNES: Despite the drizzling rain, Arundhati Roy looked resplendent in her black and gold sari as she climbed the red-carpeted steps of the Palais des Festivals in Cannes last evening. It was the opening ceremony of the 53rd international film festival. Bejewelled and couture-clad celebrities from the world of cinema shared the limelight with French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin. Among them, Kristin Scott Thomas, Jeremy Irons, Andie McDowell, Claudia Schiffer and the stars of the opening night film Vatel, Uma Thurman, Gerard Depardieu and Tim Roth.

Vatal, a no expenses-spared costume drama proves once again what Bollywood has known all too well; money, lavish sets and brilliant choreography is no substitute for a good screenplay. Set in the days when King Louis XIV ruled France, the film lacked wit and style. It received a polite but lukewarm response. "Instead of a film we are being given a history lesson," my companion muttered at the exclusive black-tie event. Roy is here as a member of the Grand Jury that will award the top prizes, including the Palme d’ Or to the best film. She follows a line of distinguished writers who have done jury duty in the past, including Tennessee Willaims, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Francoise Sagan and William Styron. In fact, she should be quite in her element here, since she wrote and acted in a wonderful tele-film for Doordarshan in 1980s, When Annie Gives It Those Ones.

The bad news this year is that Roy is the only Indian connection at Cannes, unless you count Ismail Merchant who will showcase his latest, and British produced, The Golden Bowl, later this week. The James Ivory-directed film is an adaptation of the Henry James novel. Every director dreams of this festival. Being part of Cannes can be the culmination of a career. MF Husain was to rent a hall somewhere in town this year to give his ode to Madhuri Dixit, Gajagamini, a "Screened at Cannes" label, but, in all probability, he had difficulty raising the airfare since the film has yet to be sold in a single territory.

India is by far the largest film-producing country in the world but the sad fact remains that in the last one year, it has not produced one film worthy of the most prestigious and most lucrative festival in the world. Cannes continues to be provocative. The selection committee has decided to exclude even Spain and Italy. As expected, there has been an uproar. Hollywood, for its part, has chosen to withhold some of its best films preferring to release them elsewhere on another date.

Berlin and Venice festivals are more hospitable to its products. With hundreds of critics in attendance, a bad reception at Cannes can ring a death knell for a big budget film.
This year’s entries include Joel and Ethan Coen’s O Brother, Where Art Thou, starring George Clooney (who is currently being seen in India in The Three Kings) and Ken Loach’s Bread And Roses.

The Cannes Film Market has opened for business in a newly-constructed $27 million complex. It accommodates 350 companies, six thousand people and comprises eight 70 seat, state-of-the-art cinema halls. The two weeks spent in Cannes is spent living and breathing movies. Being in Cannes is like being on the Noah’s Ark. Everyone is here! Hustlers for sure. But there are also those with a passion for cinema. A footnote: National Film Development Corporation was very keen to send its team over to display its wares but the plan was nixed by the higher ups in the ministry of information and broadcasting with good reason. Last year, they set up shop here at great expense, but did not manage to sell a single film, not even to television! The moral of the story: We don’t need babus here. We need professionals.