Popularity of red carpet shouldn't overshadow cinema: Boman Irani on Cannes Film Festival

Hindustan Times

13-06-2025

Mumbai, Actor-director Boman Irani says he understands the glamour aspect of the Cannes Film Festival but believes the spotlight should remain on the artistes who are finally getting their moment in the sun.
Irani, who attended the film gala last month for the screening of Anupam Kher's director "Tanvi The Great" at the Marche du Film, said what filmmaker Payal Kapadia and Neeraj Ghaywan have achieved at the festival is inspiring.
"There is nothing wrong with having the red carpet, people and the glamour. The glamorous side of the world gets represented far more strongly than the cinematic side of it. However, what happens is that everything goes hand in glove.
"But there has to be a bit of imbalance at this point of time. I saw a photograph of Payal and Neeraj Ghaywan together; to me, that's the festival. People who love cinema will find inspiration in what Payal and Neeraj have done,' the 65-year-old actor told PTI in an interview.
Ghaywan's second feature film "Homebound" received a nine-minute standing ovation at the prestigious film festival following its screening in the Un Certain Regard section. He had earlier premiered his acclaimed debut feature Masaan at Cannes in 2015.
Kapadia made history in 2024 by becoming the first Indian filmmaker to win the prestigious Grand Prix the second-highest honour at Cannes for her debut feature "All We Imagine As Light". This year, she returned to the festival as a member of the main competition jury.
Irani said the achievements of the two filmmakers at Cannes have made them popular all over the country.
'If Payal had gone there 15 years ago and won, I think it would have been a small little article in the newspaper and forgotten about. But today, thanks to all of this, Payal is now a household name.
"Neeraj is a household name, and it's so beautiful to see the two of them also walking during the red carpet with great aplomb, which makes me feel beautiful about it," he added.
Irani, who made his directorial debut with "The Mehta Boys" earlier this year, said he has no issues with people, "who don't understand or are not interested in cinema", attending Cannes and walking the red carpet.
"To each his own. As long as the festival is getting a lot of benefit out of that through whoever, I don't know whether I can call them influencers or whatever, the glamour side of it, it's fine. But the immense popularity of the red carpet should not overshadow the cinematic achievement,' the actor added.
During his time at Cannes, Irani also seized the opportunity to watch Spike Lee's film 'Highest 2 Lowest'.
'I was there for Spike Lee's film, Denzel Washington, all of them were there, it was so beautiful . At the end of the day, everybody is there to have a good time, humble people talking about their movies, cinema, and talking to anybody and everybody. It's so wonderful.'
On the acting front, Irani is gearing up for the release of his upcoming movie, 'Detective Sherdill', fronted by Diljit Dosanjh. It is slated to release on June 20 on ZEE5.
The actor expressed his fondness for detective films and reminisced about iconic characters like Karamchand and others.
'I find Byomkesh Bakshi, Karamchand, Sherlock Holmes, Miss Marple, and Hercule Poirot to be some of my favourites, they all are so amazing,' Irani said.
'Detective Sherdill' is produced by Ali Abbas Zafar and Himanshu Mehra, and directed by debutant Ravi Chhabriya.
The film also features Diana Penty, Banita Sandhu, Sumeet Vyas, and Chunky Pandey among others.