What are Indian creators doing at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival?

Every year, the prestigious Cannes Film Festival in France, attracts movie stars, filmmakers and artists from across the globe. What’s different this year – the 76th edition of the festival (May 16-27) – is that many content creators/influencers from India have been seen walking on the famous Cannes red carpet. 

Masoom Minawala Mehta, Kusha Kapila, Diipa Büller-Khosla, Niharika Nm, Ruhee Dosani, Dolly Singh, Ranveer Allahbadia, among others, were spotted at the event this year. 

Aman Gupta, co-founder of the leading electronics brand boAt, became the first entrepreneur from India to walk on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival. Many Indian celebrities, including Anushka Sharma, Esha Gupta and Sara Ali Khan, also made their debut at the event this year.

Sonya V Kapoor, founder of M5 entertainment, says that India is the topic of discussion on many global platforms, and Cannes is just another platform. 

“There’s this overall global interest in India – its people, brands, etc., lately.”

On the presence of so many Indian influencers at the festival this year, an AJIO spokesperson shares, “The influencers have always been at the centre of fashion – giving style tips and recommendations to their audiences. With the growing popularity of Indian creators, it’s about time that they represent India at a global stage, like the Cannes Film Festival.” 

Singh walked the Cannes red carpet this year, with AJIO as her fashion partner. 

“Dolly, who hails from a small town in Uttarakhand, started out with a blog that focussed on affordable fashion. It went on to strike a chord with millions of Indians, because of her humour and relatability. Her ‘Nainital-to-Cannes’ story is quite inspirational. The Cannes red carpet is known for being the runway for fashion from around the world, and presented a unique opportunity. AJIO came on board to be Dolly’s fashion partner for Cannes. We gave her a bold, fashionable red carpet look. We took the Indian fashion ecosystem to the global stage,” adds the AJIO spokesperson.

We’ve come to associate brands like L’Oreal, Chopard, Renault, BMW, Mastercard and Grey Goose with the festival. But this year, many homegrown brands got to rub shoulders with these global brands. 

As a part of their Cannes journey, Indian influencers have been sharing posts on Instagram, thanking various brands for their red carpet looks. 

Here are some Indian brands that were spotted at the Cannes red carpet this year:

Mehta wore a diamond choker from Lion Jewellers, along with a Falguni Shane Peacock outfit. She also partnered with Grey Goose for her Cannes journey.

Singh wore an Abu Jani Sandeep Khosla outfit.

Allahbadia, aka Beer Biceps, wore a geometric suit from Karrtik D. 

Shivani Bafna wore a gown designed by Vaishali S. Bafna, along with pearl earrings from Anayah Jewellery and a red DIY-ed clutch with a QR code from Clutch-It.

Kapila wore a dress from Rahul Mishra. She also partnered with Dr Sheth’s and Airbnb for the festival.

As per Viraj Sheth, CEO and co-founder of Monk Entertainment, the influencers are representing their country on a global stage, like the Cannes Film Festival, first and foremost. They’re all wearing outfits by Indian designers, which also means that they’re representing desi artisans on a global stage. 

“The influencers, with their massive social media reach, can help promote films that interest not only them, but their audiences too, thereby generating more ticket sales,” adds Sheth.

“Social media platforms like Instagram, have opened up conversations to a large set of people,” mentions Pankhuri Harikrishnan, director at Fetch Consulting. 

Fetch, an influencer agency, has been taking brands and celebrities/influencers to the festival since 2018. This year, the agency has partnered with brands like Grey Goose, Lenskart, Airbnb, Dr Sheth’s, etc.

Harikrishnan shares, “We’ve identified brands and stars who can represent India at this international platform. Apart from the stars, influencers like Mehta and Büller-Khosla have been a part of the festival for a few years now.”

Meanwhile, Monk Entertainment partnered with Brut India to provide an opportunity to Allahbadia, Nm and Dosani to walk on the Cannes red carpet this year. 

On the opportunity that Cannes offers influencers, Sheth says, “By partnering with Brut, which is one of the biggest media organisations in France, we were able to curate a memorable red carpet experience for our creators at the iconic festival for movies like ‘Indiana Jones’ and ‘The Zone of Interest’. Opportunities like these don’t turn up every day. This was truly a ‘bucket list’ experience for our creators.”

Over the years, Brut has played a major role in bringing India’s creators and entrepreneurs to the Cannes red carpet.