Cannes Film Festival: Union Min Anurag Thakur lands in France to lead Indian delegation

The prestigious Cannes Film Festival 2022 will kick start on May 17 and Union Minister of Information & Broadcasting, Youth Affairs and Sports, Anurag Thakur will lead the Indian delegation at the event. He landed in France a few hours ago and was welcomed by the Indian Ambassador to France. The much-awaited film festival will see several Indian celebrities grace the event with their presence.

Anurag Thakur lands in France ahead of Cannes 2022

The office of Anurag Thakur took to its official Instagram account to share a glimpse of the Union Minister as he landed in France for the gala event. He was received at the airport by the Indian Ambassador to France and the duo posed for a picture that was uploaded online.

The caption of the post read, "Union Minister of Information & Broadcasting @ianuragthakur arrives in France, to lead the Indian delegation at 75th #CannesFilmFestival".

Have a look at the post here:

Anurag Thakur had earlier spoken about the 75-year diplomatic ties between India and France and mentioned it was an honour for the country to be officially invited to the event. He stated that the goal was to pitch the country as 'content creator' for the entire world, which can be done by portraying India's core strength in content.

He said, "India which is known as the world's largest filmmaker, many from the entertainment industries will be attending Cannes Film Festival this year. Our focus will be to pitch India as the content creator of the world. We will show the type of films in Cannes that will showcase India's strength in content."

As one of the highlights of India's status as the 'country of honour', a special screening of a restored Indian classic "Pratidwandi", directed by Satyajit Ray, has been planned as part of the festival's Cannes Classics selection. 

Indians at Cannes 2022

It was earlier announced that Deepika Padukone would represent India as a part of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival 2022. She will be joined by Noomi Rapace from Sweden, Jeff Nichols from the United States of America, Jasmine Trinca from Italy, Joachim Trier from Norway and others.

Thakur will lead the Indian delegation comprising top personalities including Shekhar Kapur, A R Rahman, Prasoon Joshi, R Madhavan, Tamannaah Bhatia, Vani Tripathi, Pooja Hegde and folk artist Mame Khan for the red carpet event ahead of the screening of opening film "Coupez" (Final Cut) by Michel Hazanavicius.

(With PTI inputs)

Image: Twitter/@Anurag_Office, Instagram/@festivaldecannes