In the razzmatazz world upon which the Riviera sun shines, an unlikely film was charting a historical blaze. Shrek 2, a delightful animation feature with voiceovers by big-ticket stars Cameron Diaz, Mike Myers and Eddie Murphy, became the first sequel that has followed the original as contender for the Palme d'Or. India's splash in the tony settings, however, had no such epilogue to boast of. After the stir the country created last year-almost by default in the absence of Hollywood stars and serious auteur fare-the bubble burst.

PARTY POPPERS: Lakshmi and Rushdie (Top); London socialite Surina Narula with Merchant

There was, of course, newly married diva Padma Lakshmi with husband Salman Rushdie on the exalted red carpet, an Indian party or two with dangerously low levels of the glamour quotient, and lone ranger, the 1957 classic Mother India in the official screenings. Pun unintended but India was not quite shining on the Croisette this year.

Or so it appeared. But quietly, away from the chase of the paparazzi and the glare of the spotlight, the Indian film fraternity was making steady headway. "These days Americans are very keen on Indian cinema," said tycoon S.P. Hinduja, just back from a trip to Hollywood to discuss modalities for working in tandem with Bollywood. "We are investing in a fund exclusively for co-productions with Hollywood," he added.

Among the films to cook up a response at Cannes was Paris-based writer-director Vijay Singh's One Dollar Curry, hailed as "neither Bollywood nor an art film but one that carves a neat niche for itself as an entertaining comedy" by Variety, the prestigious trade magazine. "My last film Jaya Ganga ran in France for 49 weeks. I am expecting a better response for this," said Singh. He did get one-the film got a houseful run at the market screening. More importantly, it found overseas distributors.

Its immediate beneficiary is 32-year-old Vikram Chatwal, international playboy who has found his calling in films. One Dollar Curry's protagonist is already getting offers from both Hollywood and Bollywood. At Cannes, he attended fancy shindigs with close friend Angad Paul, scion of the Swraj Paul clan and a London-based producer. "Whenever we go out we have a good laugh," says Paul. He also had other reasons to smile, having found distributors for his two completed projects (Kelly Brook-starrer School for Seduction and EMR) and six under-production ventures. "We have achieved territory sales for all. This trip has been very productive," says Paul.

BRIGHT SPARKS: (clockwise from far left) Producer Bedi accompanied by wife Varsha; Hinduja with a friend at Surina Narula's yacht party; Paul poses in front of a poster of his film School for Seduction; Chatwal bonding with Singh

Another film riding on the crest of rave reviews was Ismail Merchant's Heights, starring Isabella Rosselini and Glenn Close. "The distributors and audience loved it. Many countries have bought it, as has Sony Classic Pictures," said a gleeful Merchant (Sony has also snapped up his other, White Countess). "Heights is intense, romantic and sad," he said.

Djakarta-based TV producer-filmmaker Sharad Sharan, among the first-time visitors to Cannes, was glad he dashed from Indonesia. "It is worth it. Next time I am going to bring my wife along-she is a producer," he smiles. Sharan participated in a newly introduced producers' network meet and pitched for three projects. HBO Films has approved his script of Boka Thakur, based on a true story about a coffin maker imprisoned for 35 years.

Owais Husain, co-director of Meenaxi: Tale of Three Cities who was in Cannes on an impulse, is also happy he made it. "I wanted to see how people react to a film which is like a painting. Meenaxi is poetic," he says. "I want to try out the festival circuit."

Two of the year's biggest releases Lakshya and Swades also arrived in Cannes with the announcement of 10 newly packaged Bollywood features of nine Bollywood directors, including Ram Gopal Varma and David Dhawan. Bobby Bedi's The Rising, starring a hirsute Aamir Khan, and Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Swades found considerable space in the international press.

But the one film that caused a sensation on the basis of its trailer alone was the bilingual Kisna by thespian filmmaker Subhash Ghai. "I had fruitful meetings with distributors from the UK and the US. Rights have been sold for South-East Asia and we have received a positive response," says Ghai. It helped to strategically place a striking poster of Kisna. Designed aesthetically in an Oriental style, the flyer put up at the bustling Croisette depicts only part of a girl in a swirling skirt.

That gust of wind is truly blowing Bollywood far, away and beyond.