Devdas was showcased in Cannes Film Festival in 2002.
Panaji:
Cannes International Film Festivaldirector Thierry Fremaux says he suffered a backlash from hiscommittee members for selecting Sanjay Leela Bhansali'sdirected Devdas for screening at the carnival back in 2002.
Fremaux said the main reason he was criticized was becausepeople did not expect to see such a grand and commercial filmat a platform like Cannes.
However, the director said he loved Devdas, starringBollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, and ishappy that he decided to screen the film despite opposition.
"I was very happy with the selection of Devdas. Ithought it would bring something new and fresh to thefestival. It was based on a literary masterpiece by SharatChandra Chattopadhyay. But a lot of people were against it,"Fremaux said during an interactive session at NFDC's FilmBazaar.
"My own committee members were not in favour of selectingthe film. People usually don't come to Cannes to see suchfilms and that was the main reason for the backlash," headded.
India was the guest country at this year's edition ofCannes to celebrate 100 years of Indian cinema. The fest alsosaw significant presence of Indian films as well as actors,directors and producers.
Fremaux also lauded young Indian filmmakers, who aretravelling all around the globe and even Cannes with theirfilms and getting international recognition.
"The new breed of filmmakers from India is very promising.They are dealing with interesting subject matter in theirfilms and that is what is attracting the internationalaudience.
"Earlier, we used to consider Bollywood to be synonymousto Indian cinema. But now with the advent of many youngfilmmakers we have realized that there is so much more toIndian cinema," Fremaux said.
Fremaux said the main reason he was criticized was becausepeople did not expect to see such a grand and commercial filmat a platform like Cannes.
However, the director said he loved Devdas, starringBollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, and ishappy that he decided to screen the film despite opposition.
"I was very happy with the selection of Devdas. Ithought it would bring something new and fresh to thefestival. It was based on a literary masterpiece by SharatChandra Chattopadhyay. But a lot of people were against it,"Fremaux said during an interactive session at NFDC's FilmBazaar.
"My own committee members were not in favour of selectingthe film. People usually don't come to Cannes to see suchfilms and that was the main reason for the backlash," headded.
India was the guest country at this year's edition ofCannes to celebrate 100 years of Indian cinema. The fest alsosaw significant presence of Indian films as well as actors,directors and producers.
Fremaux also lauded young Indian filmmakers, who aretravelling all around the globe and even Cannes with theirfilms and getting international recognition.
"The new breed of filmmakers from India is very promising.They are dealing with interesting subject matter in theirfilms and that is what is attracting the internationalaudience.
"Earlier, we used to consider Bollywood to be synonymousto Indian cinema. But now with the advent of many youngfilmmakers we have realized that there is so much more toIndian cinema," Fremaux said.
