Cannes Film Festival: India out in the cold?

Aishwariya Rai and Ajay Devgan in Raincoat

India looks with mixed feelings at the Cannes Film Festival beginning on May 12.

Indian actress Nandita Das will be a member of the jury at the most prestigious festival in the international circuit while maestro Satyajit Ray's Pather Panchali, in its golden jubilee year, will kick off the Classics section of the cultural event.

Nandita, 35, is the second Indian actress to be made part of the jury for the festival after Bollywood superstar Aishwariya Rai a couple of years ago. In 2000, it was writer-activist Arundhati Roy who was a member of the jury at Cannes. Earlier, this honour had gone to directors like Mrinal Sen and Mira Nair.

Nandita, daughter of renowned artiste Jatin Das, has acted in nearly 14 feature films ever since making a debut in director Prakash Jha's Pariniti in 1987.

Among the notable films she has acted in and earned critical acclaim are Aamar Bhubon, (2002), directed by Mrinal Sen, Hazaar Chaurasir Maa (1998) by Govind Nihalani, Shubho Mauhurat (2003) by Rituparno Ghosh , Fire (1998), Earth (1996) Aks (2001), Bhawandar (2000), Supaari (2003), Ek Din 24 Ghante (2003) and Bas Yun Hi (2003).

While Nandita's becoming part of the Cannes jury is good news, there is a sense of disappointment that not a single film from India, which has the biggest movie producing industry in the world, is being screened at the Cannes film festival this time.

The screening of Pather Panchali at the Cannes this year is a special phenomenon: for it was at this festival that Ray's classic had won the top award half a century ago, taking the world cinema by storm.

There are reports that Sanjay Leela Bhansali's latest flick Black, starring Amitabh Bachchan and Rani Mukarjee, and Ketan Mehta's movie on martyr Mangal Pandey, The Rising, starring Aamir Khan, have been rejected by the Cannes festival selection committee this time.

Critics feel Rituparno Ghosh's latest film Raincoat, starring Ajay Devgan and Aishwariya Rai, could have been sent to one of the sections of the festival.

Nandita Das, in an e-mailed media release, said it was time to find out why no Indian film is being represented at the Cannes this time. "I think we should be brutally honest and ask ourselves whether our movies are good enough for this level of an international platform," she asserted.