The words he said will always stay with me: Namita Lal remembers inviting Subhash Ghai for the poster launch of Lihaaf at Cannes

Namita Lal, who made her Bollywood debut with Lihaaf, recently went on her fourth visit to the Cannes Film Festival. While at the French Riviera, the banker-turned-actor producer remembers her debut at the Festival de Cannes, where her movie’s poster was launched. She said that she had invited filmmaker Shubhash Ghai for the launch, and he was kind enough to grace the occasion.   

Talking about her favourite Cannes memory, she said, “It was the time when I met Subhash Ghai in 2018. I invited him to the launch of Lihaaf, and he came. We invited him onstage, and he conducted the whole ceremony in his wonderful style. The words he said will always stay with me. He congratulated Rahat Kazmi and me (since I was also the producer of Lihaaf) and said that while he was a star filmmaker, he wished he could make a film like Lihaaf, which was bold and unique.”   

“Rahat Kazmi started crying on stage, and I teared up as well. I can never forget that memory. That was my first debut film coming to Cannes, and I still get goosebumps and tears talking about it. Of course, the launch of Oxygen and Country of the Blind with Hina Khan and my team from Oxygen was emotional as well. We had a lot of filmmakers coming on stage to congratulate us on the Oxygen trailer launch. These are very precious memories,” she added.   Namita stressed that Cannes is different from the other festivals because of the scale on which the event is organised. She said there are around ninety country pavilions, sales offices, sales platforms, and lots of conferences, along with a lot of new technology, with AI being the big star this time.   

She said, “It's so big that you can hardly cover it all. There are lots of screenings, many categories, and many films. It's also about the glamour, with amazing outfits. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was here. I really salute the courage of the lady, and she was here with her daughter. I salute her for being so charming and for being so impressive.”  

“Another big thing was the screening of Manthan. Manthan is very close to my heart, coming from an institute that the film was based on. Fifty thousand farmers crowdfunded the film. Inspired by Dr. Verghese Kurien, who was my boss and mentor, and Naseeruddin Shah, the cast was also here, but I had another screening to attend, so I missed it. However, it was a proud moment to have Manthan in a restored version featured at Cannes. I hope I can see this version again sometime. As I said, Cannes celebrates cinema, and you can see all kinds of restored classics here. Lastly, but definitely not least, there's the film by Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis at the age of eighty-something, probably his last film. It received a crazy crowd from all over the world to just take one look at him, and his work is truly inspiring. It was an amazing accomplishment,” she added.