Cannes 2013: Anurag Kashyap’s Ugly screened; Vidya Balan shares her experiences so far

Indian pavilion gets another head-turner at the Cannes Film Festival, though not with a fashionable style quotient this time. This time it was Mumbai’s dark side which got into the limelight holding the hands of Anurag Kashyap's psychological thriller Ugly.

The story of the kidnapping of a young girl has been received with a lot of appreciation at Cannes as the film highlighted the real life of the city, centering on child trafficking and prostitution. While talking about the journey of Ugly, Anurag revealed, "I refused to share the script with anyone. I said I'm making the film and if you want to come with me and do it....” The 40-year-old director who paid his second consecutive visit to Cannes also said, "I had this feeling that if they read the script they would not allow me to make it so for the first time I reached out to my actors, friends and said 'you trust me' and everyone came on board." His epic Gangs of Wasseypur won accolades at last year’s Cannes festival. Ugly got a screening as part of the Directors Fortnight at Cannes. On 20^thMay, Anurag will be honoured with Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters (Ordre des Arts et des Lettres) by French Culture Minister Aurelie Filippetti at the festival. Last year Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was awarded the same.

Jury member Vidya Balan also shared her experience of seeing Amitabh Bachchan on the stage of Cannes, "When I saw Mr Bachchan on stage, I choked. I grew up watching Amitabh Bachchan's films and my niece and nephew who are 21 months old, they know Amitabh Bachchan. Indian cinema and Amitabh Bachchan are synonymous with each other. And when he spoke in Hindi, it was just such a proud moment. Personally, for me to have shared the stage with him and on an international platform where the talk is about India celebrating 100 glorious years, it felt really special. These are the times when you have to pinch yourself and say 'oh my god, this is for real.'" She also talked about her desi looks at the international film festival, being endorsed by designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee, "I wear Indian clothes all the time, even back home. I love Indian clothes because the complement one's femininity beautifully and I love feminine clothing. I didn't see reason to do anything differently here, because I'm here representing Indian cinema and we're celebrating Indian cinema's 100th anniversary."