French connection

The idea of walking down the red carpet at the 34th Cannes Film Festival this year has Saif Ali Khan excited and jittery.

The idea of walking down the red carpet at the 34th Cannes Film Festival this year has Saif Ali Khan excited and jittery. Saif,who is going there for the first time,as the brand ambassador of Chivas Regal,is looking forward to interacting with international film personalities. There are some international film celebrities I am looking forward to meeting, said the actor at an event to announce his Cannes trip.

The chhote nawab stands out simply because it is his first appearance at the French festival,and the fact that he is the only male actor from India amongst actresses like Aishwarya Rai Bachchan,Sonam Kapoor,Mallika Sherawat and Minissha Lamba to be walking the red carpet. Dressing in a Tom Ford suit,however,does not excite the actor,as for him it means just another black suit with a black tie. Its very easy to dress up a guy,especially when the dress-code is a black tie. Anyway,the platform is not about clothes,its about films, he said,adding that his style statement is dressing for comfort and for the occasion.

Interestingly,Khan has never thought about his films being screened at this prestigious festival. He candidly says that the typical masala potboilers that he works in,or produces,are different from what the festival likes to showcase. The only film of mine that I can think is suitable for being screened at Cannes is Being Cyrus,or better still,Omkara which was based on William Shakespeares Othello and was treated very differently. But maybe sometime in the future,adventure thrillers like my home production,Agent Vinod,with larger-than-life characters will have a place there, he said.

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Though he is waiting for the day when international and Indian actors will be at par at Cannes,Saif is content being in Mumbai and working in Hindi cinema. This is where I belong, he said cheerfully,adding that he is looking forward to his forthcoming film,Aarakshan,for which he learnt shuddh Hindi,and his most ambitious project,Agent Vinod which is presently the most important thing to him.

And what was his mother,Sharmila Tagores (who was one of the members of the international jury of the festival two years ago),reaction to his Cannes visit? There was nothing for her to be overly excited about,after all I have not won an Oscar, he grins.

n geety.sahgal@expressindia.com