Photographs: Courtesy Pigeon Media Patcy N in Mumbai
Ace choreographer Sandip Soparrkar and his model wife Jesse Randhawa were among the desi celebs who visited Cannes this year.
Sandip was invited for a four-day function and to attend the 100 years of Indian Cinema celebrations.
"There was a gala preparation happening because it was 100 years of cinema. I probably got invited because I've been a choreographer in Bollywood for a few years now and have worked with soem renowned international artistes," says Sandip who has returned from the French riverside town.
Soparrkar, who was associated with Jackie Chan's The Myth (premiered in Cannes in 2005), says that several Indian Cannes regulars like Mallika Sherawat, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan ans Sonam Kapoor have been his students in the past.
"I felt proud as we were the only Indian choreographers who were invited," he beams.
"I felt proud as we were the only Indian choreographers who were invited," he beams.
'We met Spielberg, Nicole Kidman and Cindy Crawford'
Photographs: Courtesy Pigeon Media
About the '100 years' party, he says, "Anoushka Shankar had a traditional musical performance to mark the celebrations but there were no Bollywood performances apart from the sitar recital."
During their four-day visit, Soparrkar and Randhawa met a host of interesting people.
"We met the organisers of the Cairo international festival and also a choreographer and director Raghunath Manet from France who showed us a film on Shiva called Dance of Shiva.
"We met the organisers of the Cairo international festival and also a choreographer and director Raghunath Manet from France who showed us a film on Shiva called Dance of Shiva.
But did he get to mingle with any Hollywood stars?
"We did say hello to Steven Spielberg. He was very happy to see us. We met Nicole Kidman and Cindy Crawford too," the choreographer says.
They also caught up with Anurag Kashyap -- Soparrkar had worked on his Kashyap's 2009 film Gulal.
"We interacted with Vidya Balan and Poonam Dhillon too."
"We interacted with Vidya Balan and Poonam Dhillon too."
'It was an honour to be invited to Cannes'
Photographs: Courtesy Pigeon Media
For Sandip, "The experience at Cannes was really beautiful, just to go there and watch cinema was exciting. It was our first visit to Cannes so it was an honour to be invited."
The duo watched four films at the star-studded festival: Baz Lurhmann's The Great Gatsby, French drama Jeune et Jolie (Young & Beautiful) directed by Francois Ozon, Tian Zhu Ding (A Touch Of Sin) directed by JIA Zhangke and Jimmy P. (Psychotherapy Of A Plains Indian) directed by Arnaud Desplechin
They also saw three Indian films -- Ritesh Batra's Lunchbox and Anurag Kashyap's Ugly and Bombay Talkies.
'We really felt proud as Indians'
Photographs: Courtesy Pigeon Media
They saw little of the sights of Cannes because of their tight schedule and the incessant rains but managed to sneak off to Paris for five days after the festival ended.
"We really felt proud to be Indians there. People would recognise and talk to us because they knew about our dancing. They were very interested to know about Bollywood songs and dance. They knew about other Bollywood choreographers too.
"I met a director from Ghana who told me that most of their films are inspired from Bollywood films. It felt good that we have reached a position where others are getting inspired by us," Soparrkar signs off.
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