BOLLYWOOD'S BIG MOMENT: Rai and Khan take a bow

On the Croisette, the strip of land along the Riviera where stars are born amidst the clamour of a million clicking cameras, India was to come of age. Riding piggyback on Devdas' surprise entry in the out-of-competition section of Cannes 2002, Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Minister Sushma Swaraj was going to do for the Bollywood spectacular what Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon had done for Chinese cinema. Her ministry and its cohorts coughed up about Rs 20 lakh while the two chambers of commerce, FICCI and CII, contributed Rs 30 lakh. Dazzled by the glitter of imminent riches, as many as 60 film industry hotshots decided to fly down to test the azure waters of the Mediterranean for potential business.

In the end though, India remained a wannabe amid the beautiful people. The India pavilion that was going to be the hub of all deal-making turned out to be "very small", according to India's solo Hollywood hot ticket Shekhar Kapur. The homage to the Prince of Bollywood, Raj Kapoor, was attended mostly by his family and members of the Indian delegation. And the only non-Indian power person to show up at the India Day party was Microsoft co-founder and DreamWorks SKG's largest stakeholder Paul Allen. If you were looking for cigar-chomping studio bosses and bottom-baring starlets, this was the wrong do.

VILLA PARTIES & BEACH BASHES

FUN IN THE SUN: (From above) Rai with Zinta; Rewal (left) and filmmaker Manish Jha (right) with Bhansali; Ritu Nanda (left) and Krishna Kapoor; Yash Chopra; Bhansali with his mother and Karan Johar. The tribute to Raj Kapoor was attended mostly by his family and the only non-Indian star at the India Day party was Microsoft's Paul Allen.

Though India may not have had the plunging necklines and rising hemlines to propel its stars to paparazzi-mediated fame, it didn't stop its 100-strong delegation from entering into the spirit of Cannes-dizzy networking and giddy partying, regardless of the time and place in a town that sleeps at 3 a.m. and still staggers to screenings at 7.30 a.m.

It could be as early as 5 p.m. with the sun streaming in through the Regency drapes of the ballroom of the Carlton Inter-Continental in the heart of the Croisette. As Indian Ambassador to France Savitri Kunadi hosted a reception for the home delegation to Cannes 2002, Aishwarya Rai, dressed in a purple chiffon sari, walked in with her denim-clad director Sanjay Leela Bhansali (who said he was "floating"). Promos of their film, Devdas, blazed on the screen. Hindi film music played in the background, its pitch raised the minute the elderly Krishna Raj Kapoor left the party. Guests spilled onto the terrace, even as crowds elsewhere screamed for Leonardo DiCaprio ahead of the much-awaited screening of 20 minutes of Martin Scorsese's as-yet-unfinished Gangs of New York.

Cut to the recently renovated Baoli, an Oriental restaurant at Port Canto, the next day. Shah Rukh Khan jetted in from London and professed not to be nervous about Devdas' gala screening in the Salle Lumiere at the Palais des Festivals. "I never expect anything. It'll be the first preview for us too and I hope it turns out well," he said glibly before joining Rai, Bhansali, Bhansali's mother Leela and his sister Bela (editor of Devdas) for a quiet dinner. The host was Kishore Lulla, head of Eros International, the largest distributor of Hindi films overseas.

In the evening, it was off to the Salle Bunuel, where part of the Raj Kapoor clan celebrated a three-film tribute to him. But though the hall screening Awara was half empty, the Indians, among them directors Yash Chopra and Karan Johar, clapped dutifully when Swaraj spoke. She spoke again when Gilles Jacob, the long-time president of the festival, hosted a lunch for her at the very tony Plage des Palmes.

On Wednesday, it was Srichand and Gopichand Hinduja's turn to host a party at their Villa Paradisc, 15 minutes from Cannes. The spread, boasting of sev puri, matar ki kachori and cholas, was entirely vegetarian but the champagne and wine weren't. Diamond king Rashmi Mehta had flown down from Brussels and Rajya Sabha member R.K. Anand came in from Zurich. Though Swaraj pleaded a headache, Kunadi and I&B Secretary Pavan Chopra were there. As were Rai, Preity Zinta and Khan, who said he would be moving out of his hotel room at the Martinez to bunk with friend Karan Johar at the Noga Hilton. The reason: his wife Gauri was coming from London with the children. The next day, Lulla threw a beach bash at the Plage Royale before Devdas' world premiere.

Any Indian remotely within striking distance of Cannes showed up. On India Day, Zinta, looking dishy in a sleeveless brown lycra top and blue jeans, flew in from Paris and caught up with Kapur, who let it drop that he'd had lunch at Allen's yacht, moored off the beach, on Sunday; he flew in again to Nice courtesy Miramax to sell his new film, Four Feathers, to distributors but didn't come to Cannes. "Harvey (as in Weinstein, chairman of Miramax) wanted to be at India Day but couldn't come because of his Gangs," Kapur said in a newly acquired drawl.

PARTIES YES, COMMERCE NO: (Above) Kapur, India's solo Hollywood hot ticket, with Rai and Zinta; (Below) Khan and Rai at the India pavilion. Any Indian remotely within striking distance of Cannes showed up.

SUSHMA'S POWER WEEK: (Above) Swaraj with Rai, Bhansali and his mother Leela at the India Day party; (Below) Khan, Rai and Bhansali

Ruth Vitale, co-president of Paramount Classics, was there, as was David Thompson, head of BBC Films. Mostly though, it was a sea of familiar Indian faces, from Yash Johar to Smita Thackeray, Subhash Ghai to Ashok Amritraj. So what if the wine served was supermarket plonk-Cuvee Henri Fabre-and the champagne was regular Moet et Chandon, at least the samosas and kababs disappeared fast. In keeping with the spirit of the Riviera, even Bollywood's whisky drinkers settled for a glass of vino. Not a single foreign photographer was in sight but Swaraj looked on benignly as Rai towered over her and Bhansali introduced his mother.

There were some efforts at serious business too. At the India pavilion, Chinese TV interviewed Kumar Taurani about Tips' The Legend of Bhagat Singh, even as Sudhir Misra, who has just completed his Indo-French co-production Hazaron Khwaishein Aisi, was a regular visitor. Manu Rewal, who had come with his digital video Bollywood Ki Pukar, was being quizzed by producers and another young director Rajesh Sheth found a Hong Kong buyer for Yatharth, a tiny, no-budget film starring Raghuvir Yadav and Milind Gunaji. But as people lounged around, sipping free Kingfisher beer or masala tea and digging into plates of Haldiram bhujia, no one was willing to talk actual figures.

It must be said that the only permanent Indian touch on the Croisette was a tenuous one, a hoarding of Manoj Night Shyamalan's forthcoming Signs. But there were India stalls at the Cannes Market: Yash Johar's Dharma Productions (which sold Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham to distributors in Finland, Korea and Indonesia) was represented, as was weg India. Even Zee Telefilms' e-City created a lot of interest with its animation feature, Bhagmati.

There were some theatrics from India. Lulla had hired London-based publicist Ginger Corbett to coordinate the Devdas premiere and she delivered. Khan and Rai opted for a horse-drawn carriage instead of the regulation red carpet walk. They spent the entire morning at a press screening and a series of photo calls along with Bhansali and did one-on-ones with the media the next day at the gardens of the Savoy. "They are true blue stars," explained an anxious young thing in Team Devdas who feared non-existent mobs. "You can't expect them to stand on the beach and do interviews."

Will the few frenetic moments of camera-induced frenzy translate into Devdas becoming more than just an ephemeral curiosity? Swaraj, who has had to battle criticism for hotfooting it out of the country at a critical time, must be hoping so.