Cannes day 6: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan brings the glamour, Nawazuddin the gravitas

Aishwarya Rai brought the glamour and Nawazuddin Siddiqui brought the gravitas to the Indian contingent at the ongoing 71st Cannes Film Festival. Aishwarya returned to the red carpet a day after her peacock ensemble. For her second go around, Aishwarya wore a Rami Kadi dress that reportedly had 20,000 Swarovski stones. She also appeared with her daughter Aaradhya, who wore a matching knee-length dress.

On her newly launched Instagram account, Aishwarya shared pictures of her time in Cannes. One of the pictures shows her and Aaradhya posing with acting royalty, Dame Helen Mirren, while another shows the mother-daughter duo having a blast on Mother’s Day. Aaradhya posed on the train of her mom’s dress, and they followed it up with a visit to the beach, where they watched the sunset and wrote a message for fans in the sand.

You can check out pictures of Aishwarya’s adventures here.

Sonam Kapoor, meanwhile, is on her way to the festival, where she has become a fixture. Like Deepika Padukone, Mallika Sherawat and Kangana Ranaut, Sonam will also walk the ramp for a brand. She posted a video on her Instagram stories in which she said that it was her first Cannes without her sister, Rhea, who had to stay back to organise the release of Veere Di Wedding, Sonam’s new film. “I miss you,” she said.

Sonam was married to businessman Anand Ahuja in Mumbai last week. She jetted off to Cannes as soon as the wedding festivities were over.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui and the team of Manto, the only Indian film being screened as part of the official selection at the festival, were all decked out for the premiere. Nawaz ditched his trademark suit that he had been wearing to Cannes for years in favour of a Manish Malhotra tuxedo, but he did write a farewell letter for it on Instagram. Manto, based on the life of the Urdu writer, was welcomed with positive reception following its premiere.

Wendy Ide, writing for Screen Daily, said in her review that director Nandita Das’ film was a ‘hugely ambitious undertaking,’ and that ‘Nawazuddin Siddiqui puts in an impressive central performance as writer Saadat Hasan Manto.’

Baradwaj Rangan, reviewing the film for Film Companion, wrote that “Manto goes after a bit of everything – the result is a solid work with many affecting passages, but without the focus that might have made it a greater film.”

Pakistani star Mahira Khan shared a new picture on her Instagram account, in which she can be seen posing beside a bathtub ‘filled with lipsticks’.

You can check out our Day 5 recap here.

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