Anurag Kashyap Overcame A Surge Of Emotions At The 76th Annual Cannes Film Festival As Kennedy Makes Headlines.

Kennedy is a neo-noir Hindi language film directed by Anurag Kashyap, and starring Sunny Leone and Rahul Bhat. The movie follows the story of an insomniac ex-cop who is seeking redemption. This movie was selected for the Midnight Screenings section of the Cannes Film Festival 2023.

The Cannes, as we all know, is the international film festival which was held from May 16 to 27 of this year. In a world of commercial blockbusters, International film festivals become one of the few places where movies are appreciated and evaluated for their artistic quality. International film festivals, such as Cannes, deconstruct the value surrounding Hollywood Movies and redirect the audience’s attention to movies from all around the world with great artistic value.

So the kind of movies that get selected to screen at such festivals is bound to shape their country’s image in the entertainment field. With this in mind, one can safely say that India has upheld an excellent impression in these festivals over the past years. Four Indian movies were screened at Cannes 2023 this year: Anurag Kashyap's Kennedy in Midnight Screenings, Kanu Behl's Agra in Directors' Fortnight, Nehemich in La Cinef, and a restored Manipuri movie called Ishanhou in the Classics section.

A five-minute-long standing ovation at the Cannes is often considered to be normal as the festival witnesses standing ovations of such duration more often than not. Kanu Behl’s Agra got a five-minute standing ovation while Kennedy by Anurag Kashyap got a seven-minute long standing ovation. 

In an interview with Brut India after the screening, Kashyap expressed his thoughts on the long-standing ovation that his movie received in the Midnight Screenings. “I am just so grateful it was screened, and liked and it resonated with people”, said Kashyap. The director also surprised the viewers by making a shocking statement about his most famous film Gangs of Wasseypur. He said, “Gangs of Wasseypur is a bane of my life like I hate Gangs of Wasseypur because everybody expects me to keep making the same film which I never in my life will make again”. While this sent a shock wave to the fans of the movie, it was understandable how the director wanted to experiment with different styles and hence certain expectations from the audience might feel like such a pressure at times. 

Anurag Kashyap is one of the few versatile and talented directors in India. His films often leave its audience with a new experience of and for watching movies. While the record for the longest standing ovation at Cannes is held by Pan’s Labyrinth (22 minutes), the standing ovation that Kennedy received is certainly an achievement for India. With more and more regional and artistic movies coming to represent India, here is to hoping that one day an Indian movie will be able to hold the record for the longest-standing ovation at Cannes.