The Cannes 2026 started. The Indians arrived. And the trolling started.
But the question is, whether the trolling is all that unwarranted, or is there truly something to question about the recent increase of Indians at the Cannes film festivals in the last few years.
The 2026 edition of the Cannes film festival is taking place this May, like clockwork. And just like clockwork, the coastal city of Cannes in the south of France underwent a kind of cinematic metamorphosis.
The Palais des Festivals, that concrete fortress on the Croisette, becomes the axis around which world cinema revolves.
Running up the steps of this very Palais is a strip of burgundy fabric, the Cannes red carpet, designed for exactly one purpose: to frame the arrival of films and their makers at the world’s most consequential festival.
But over the years, the people gracing this very carpet have seen an interesting shift, from celebrating some of the most innovative films and creatives to the rise of influencers and digital content creators.
This is especially true for the Indian contingent, as the Indian media makes sure to fill up our social media to the brim.
In May 2026, that carpet has been occupied by, among others, the co-founders of a wellness startup, a Bengali comedian whose audience is largely rural and domestic, a beauty influencer who revealed she paid for her own photographs, and a wave of Indian attendees whose connection to cinema is, in many cases, theoretical at best.
What Is The Cannes Film Festival?
Before we can get started, it is first imperative that we understand what the Cannes film festival is, how it operates and clear up some of the misunderstandings that the Indian media has been actively, sometimes recklessly, perpetuating.
The Cannes Film Festival, considered to be one of the most prestigious film festivals in the world, is held every year, usually in May, in Cannes, France.
It saw its birth sometime in 1938 when Jean Zay, the French Minister of National Education, working on suggestions given by historian Philippe Erlanger and film journalist Robert Favre Le Bret, launched an international film festival. Initially named Le Festival International du Film, it was created mostly to compete with the Venice Film Festival.
The event saw its debut on 31 August 1939; however, it was then shelved until October 1946 due to the Second World War.
While the history of the event is interesting, it is even more important to learn that the Cannes Film Festival is not one event.
The entire film festival is spread across different areas, with various smaller festivals all running at the same time. The biggest and most prominent part of the festival is the Official Selection, a set of rigorously curated films chosen by the festival from thousands of international submissions.
This is where the Palme d’Or is contested, where Un Certain Regard spotlights emerging voices, where Directors’ Fortnight and Critics’ Week run as parallel competitive programmes.
Getting into the Official Selection is one of the most difficult achievements in world cinema. It is not purchased. It is earned.
Alongside this, though, is the Marché du Film, the Cannes Film Market, one of the largest film markets in the world, attended by thousands of industry professionals: producers, distributors, sales agents, financiers, broadcasters.
Films can be screened at the Marché, but this is a commercial exercise arranged and paid for by the films’ own teams. Getting a film screened at the Marché is not the same as being selected for Cannes.
Several people online have called out the Indian media, though, for spreading misinformation that Cannes 2026 has many Indian films going as part of its contingent. While this is not entirely untrue, the impression given was that these movies were going as official selections, which they were not.
The reality is that only two films from our country have been officially selected. One is the Punjabi-language short film, Parchaave Massiah Raatan De (Shadows of the Moonless Nights), directed by Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) student Mehar Malhotra, selected for the La Cinef Competitive section of the festival.
The second is Amma Ariyan (Report to Mother), the 1986 Malayalam film by John Abraham, screened in the Cannes Classics section as part of a 4K restoration by the Film Heritage Foundation. Two selections. One is a student short film. One a 40-year-old restoration.
The Marché du Film this year features a number of Indian productions, including two Marathi, one Hindi and one Malayalam films, along with several others. According to an Outlook India report, though, “It must be noted that these are paid for and arranged by the film teams themselves.”
Read More: What Connection Do Dictators Hitler And Mussolini Have With The Cannes Fest
The Deluge Of Indians At This Year’s Cannes
The biggest topic of debate among Indians for this year’s Cannes is not about any film, but the number of Indians who are being thrown on our social media attending the festival.
Reel after reel, post after post, of some Indian personality or another, dressed in some outrageously expensive gown or another, walking the Cannes red carpet, waving and smiling with all their 32 teeth out.
Now, some are there with legitimate reasons.
Those include the ones acting as brand ambassadors, doing their duty as one. Indian actors like Alia Bhatt and Aditi Rao Hydari were there as part of the L’Oréal Paris contingent, which has been the official makeup partner of the Festival de Cannes for 28 years.
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, although missing from the beginning of the film festival, is also reported to be finally making her way there for the closing ceremony.
There are others who have gone through a sponsorship or partnership with a brand.
Beauty creator Tarini Peshawaria, in an Instagram reel reflecting on her first Cannes visit, offered one of the most honest accounts of how this machinery actually works.
“The red carpet is literally one to two minutes long and every red carpet is not the same,” she said, describing how security and organisers carefully control visibility, and how photographers at the event often operate on a paid basis.
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She revealed, “I paid one 400 euros ( ₹44,877) for seven videos and seven photos. I know, still recovering from this.”
Now, come the viral moments. By now, everyone has done to death the whole Alia Bhatt and her outfit issue; however, there were other moments that stood out as well.
One with designer Nancy Tyagi, where some believed that the security was trying to rush her off the red carpet, before she could get her photos taken. It is unclear whether it was truly a case of rude behaviour against an Indian designer or just an out-of-context clip.
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Another was the random appearance of YesMadam co-founders and husband-wife duo Yukti and Mayank Arya, who walked the red carpet for the screening of the French film La Bataille de Gaulle.
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The puzzling thing is that they have no apparent connection to the film. No production role. No distribution deal. No creative involvement. They were there, as the phrase now goes, because they could be. A ticket, an outfit, and a carpet.
The Criticism Being Heard This Time
In lieu of this, many people have come forward to criticise the Indian contingent and whether they are truly adding anything to the festival or not.
Novelist and columnist Shobhaa De, writing for The Print around this topic, stated how “The current ‘cash and carry’ environment in Cannes is encouraging people who have nothing to contribute to cinema to show up in clownish ‘couture’ to parade their insecurity.”
De, not holding back anything, wrote how “Cannes ko pura pura Cartoon Network bana diya.” She also commented on how, due to PM Modi’s recent measures to reduce travel, among other things, many Indian politicians withdrew from attending the event.
Raising a very important question, she asked, “It left me wondering what exactly people like Maharashtra Minister for Cultural Affairs Ashish Shelar were going to contribute to India’s presence in world cinema. More importantly, what politically correct outfit was Ministerji Shelar going to wear on the red carpet?”
De further wrote, “Imagine investing lakhs for the dubious ‘honour’ of faking a Cannes attendance dressed in bizarre outfits, just to end up making a spectacle of themselves. Buffoons will always look like buffoons.”
De did bring up a valid point, though, writing, “This year marked a new low in what used to be the mecca of cinema, the leader of film fests. It has been reduced to a joke — a tacky fashion fest for nobodies. When everything is for sale, including seats at fancy sponsored events, you know the party is over.”
De wasn’t the only big name raising concerns, with filmmaker Anurag Kashyap, speaking with film critic Sucharita Tyagi, saying, “In India, the problem and obsession with Cannes is only to walk the red carpet. They don’t understand that there is a festival, and the purpose of it is beyond the red carpet.”
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When Sucharita pointed out the irony that Kashyap himself had walked the carpet but that nobody in India seemed to have noticed, he laughed and replied with characteristic self-deprecation: “Hum log side se chale jaate hain.”
Koel Puri, the actor and public figure, took a different and satirical route. Reposting her 2024 video, it showed her and Indian activist for gender equality, Trisha Shetty, parodying the transactional nature of Cannes and how nothing is as authentic as the people might be trying to make it seem.
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Other Indian content creators have also been using their platforms to either ask questions or mock how silly it really is.
Image Credits: Google Images
Sources: Outlook India, Hindustan Times, NDTV
Find the blogger: @chirali_08
This post is tagged under: Cannes, Cannes film festival, Cannes 2026, Cannes influencers, Cannes indians, Cannes indian films, Cannes indian film selection, indians at Cannes 2026, Tarini Peshawaria, Tarini Peshawaria cannes, Tarini Peshawaria cannes 2026, alia bhatt, alia bhatt cannes, alia bhatt cannes 2026, YesMadam co-founders, YesMadam co-founders cannes 2026, Nancy Tyagi, Nancy Tyagi cannes 2026, Nancy Tyagi cannes red carpet
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