One brought his film to the Cannes Film Festival after a decade, the other is serving as a jury member. Directors Neeraj Ghaywan and Payal Kapadia had a memorable meet-up at the 78th edition of the eminent gala.
Neeraj Ghaywan’s second Hindi feature film Homebound received a nine-minute standing ovation at Cannes when it was screened in the Un Certain Regard segment on Wednesday. The same day, he clicked a picture with last year’s Cannes Grand Prix winner Payal Kapadia, whom he called “India's biggest star” at the European festival.
"Hanging out with the biggest Indian star at @festivaldecannes - @payalkapadiafilm," Ghaywan captioned his photo with Kapadia on Instagram.
Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap, a frequent presence from India at Cannes, commented on his frequent collaborator’s post.
“Do chamakte huye sitaare (two shining stars),” Anurag wrote.
Last year, Payal charted history by becoming the first Indian filmmaker to win Grand Prix, the second highest award at the Cannes Film Festival, for her debut feature film, All We Imagine As Light.
The Malayalam-Hindi movie had already made headlines after it became the first Indian film in 30 years and first ever by an Indian female director to be showcased in the main competition.
Neeraj was previously in Cannes for the premiere of his first full-length film Masaan back in 2015. The social drama also premiered in the Un Certain Regard section where it won FIPRESCI Prize and and Un Certain Regard Special Prize. The 2025 Cannes Film Festival will run through Saturday.
(Edited by Prattusa Mallik)