Helly Shah made her Cannes Film Festival debut this year. The actress, who went to the prestigious film festivalfor the poster launch of her upcoming film, was not invited to the Indian Pavilion, just like HGina Khan. However, unlike Hina, Helly says she was not disheartened because of this.
Talking to Pinkvilla, the actress said, “Yes, Hina Khan spoke about it. I was also not invited but had I been invited I would have been very very happy and proud to represent my country. Strangely, I was not disappointed.”
She continued and said, “This was my first-ever appearance at the Cannes Film Festival and a different experience altogether. I honestly didn’t take it that way ‘Oh, I was not invited and I am really upset and disappointed’ but yes, if I’d gone to the Indian Pavilion on the first day, it would have been a very great feeling.”
Earlier, Hina Khan had revealed that she was not invited to the Indian Pavilion, not even as an audience, which really left her disheartened. She also spoke about the bias that existed because she was from a TV background. Hina had said, “There is an elitist system, this elitist game, which still exists. There was an opening ceremony that happened at the Indian pavilion. There was everyone, all the talents, my contemporaries, and not just from Bollywood. It’s not that I envy them, I am so proud of them. But at the same time, it is a bit disheartening, why was I not there? Why was I not there? I could have been there, probably in the audience, at least, cheering for them when they were doing the Ghoomar. I loved the video, I felt so proud of my country.”
Helly Shah had earlier opened up about the challenges of sourcing an outfit for her Cannes appearance. She had revealed that even though she wanted to represent Indian designers at the festival, several of them had refused to give their clothes to her and were only keen on giving their outfits to Deepika Padukone. Even Meera Chopra had the same complaint.
