Sara Ali Khan's lehenga look on the Cannes red carpet has won her praise and she's in august company. Desi girls Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Vidya Balan and Sonam Kapoor have shown up in lehengas at Cannes over the years, some with more success than the others. The OG was Aishwarya, who wore two lehengas while on jury duty in 2003. They weren't the midriff baring looks as seen on Sonam later and this year on Sara. Those were the Neetu Lulla years and Aishwarya's lehengas were accordingly blingy and verging on tacky.
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan wore this lehenga with a pink top to the opening ceremony:
She wore a maroon lehenga as well. Years later, in 2018, Sonam Kapoor wore an ivory creation by Ralph & Russo:
Vidya Balan's much-maligned jury duty wardrobe in 2013 included two lehengas, both by Sabyasachi. The styling of each was fairly elaborate, if completely different:
Both Sonam and Vidya also added some desi masala to the Cannes red carpet with nose rings – worn with sarees, not lehengas. Sonam styled her lehenga with an intricate ornament for her braid.
Cut to 2023 – Sara Ali Khan's outfit of choice for her big Cannes debut was an Abu Jani-Sandeep Khosla creation – an ivory lehenga with shadow work and embroidery, the blouse decorated with pearls and resham, and a veil attached to her hair that trailed behind her as Sara walked the red carpet of opening night.
See Abu-Sandeep's post on the look here:
Sara Ali Khan apart, Manushi Chhillar, Esha Gupta and Urvashi Rautela also walked the red carpet last night. Anushka Sharma, Aditi Rao Hydari and Mrunal Thakur will also be making their Cannes debuts this year while Aishwarya Rai Bachchan will return for the 21st time.