Hi Folks,
So another year goes by and another Cannes goes by. And we have people who attend it year after year, Bollywood makes it's flashing big announcements, aka , "we are becoming X in the global market," "we are launching xyz films," "the indian industry is becoming y" and the list goes on.....and then it is status quo.
To me, it is all ado about nothing. 'Cause the noisemakers disappear about as early as you finish spelling CANNES. The fashion and the films in Cannes, are also the fashion and the films in any page 3 of any magazine in the world. Generally, from a commercial Indian cinema or a Bollywood perspective, the bigger, to be released films, rarely showcase themselves in Cannes, and the ones that play in the Cannes
Market, as opposed to the Cannes Festival, rarely go anywhere in the "real world," that is the world of commerical, audience interaction. So then that's all that Cannes is, is about which gown Ash is wearing
or how the Indian corporates are increasing their stake in Bollywood, then the question I have is---do we need a Cannes for that? That information is very easily available in most magazines, internet and other sites.
It is also important to break a myth here. A lot of Bollywood films say "I played at Cannes..." Sorry, I have news for you...it did not play at Cannes...it played in the Cannes Market. The Cannes Market is a bazaar where films are bought and sold, trading is done,any film can take part in the Market. The Market is held simultaneously to the festival and for the films to be selected in the festival, is a big deal, well at least for some. I'm not about festivals. But assuming I was, it would be a big deal for me. But ANY FILM CAN TAKE PART IN THE MARKET and this leads to the BIGGEST LIE IN BOLLYWOOD FILMDOM- MY FILM PLAYED AT CANNES!!! NO IT DID NOT, IT TOOK PART IN THE CANNES MARKET THAT IS HELD SIMULTANEOUSLY TO THE FESTIVAL.
The film that was selected to play in the festival this year was GUIDE , which had become a commercial and a festival classic, long before Cannes gave it its "Stamp of Approval." The point then was Guide did not need Cannes and Cannes certainly needed Guide. The films that have and did play in the Cannes market in this and in prior years were not a list of (from the Bollywood and Indian American perspective) WHO's WHO? but more a WHAT''s THAT? They will have their one week of fame in Cannes and then disappear into oblivion.
And what of the attendees?
I can safely say that "making it to Cannes" is not synonamous with "making it in films" or "making a classic film." In fact, living in Silicon Valley and California, I know a whole bunch of "career Cannes attendees" who are just that "attendees," one never hears of a classic film from them, one never hears of them, other than from themselves.
So are all Cannes films and attendees useless?
Absolutely not, but there are a whole lot of useless films and attendees, who are floating around Cannes. These are the modern day "groupies." Let's take the current day Bollywood scenario. There are a whole lot of players who constitute Bollywood cinema, than the lot that attends Cannes. And every year, huge announcements are made, big money is talked about .....and then the dust settles....until the next Cannes....and then it starts all over again. And in all, the talk is about the gowns, who arrived with whom, how much money is being pumped into Bollywood, and the globalization of Bollywood....but the question that begs to be asked is--- BUT WHAT ABOUT THE FILMS?
The truth is that the Bollywood films seek an audience, that is their Cannes. Cannes, is not their Cannes!!
Sincerely,
Vivek "I'm not about Cannes, Versova, Burbank, Manhattan, London...that is my Cannes." Kumar
