Daily Times

Tamannaah Bhatia is part of the Indian delegation at the Cannes Film Festival 2022. This year, as India is the country of honour at the Marche Du Film for the first time ever, a delegation of Indian cine artistes represented the country and walked the red carpet at the prestigious film festival. In a candid conversation with Hindustan Times at Cannes, Tamannaah talks about the opportunity, gorging on food before her red carpet appearance, and more.

Talking about how the opportunity to represent Indian cinema at Cannes came to her pretty last minute, Tamannah says, “For me, the whole idea of coming to Cannes and representing the country, it was very last minute. It’s strange but in my life, at least it happens quite often that mostly I’m not prepared for things that come my way but they are all so amazing that I feel I have always had that strength as a person to explore the unknown.” However, she does feel proud at having had the chance. “It’s a great honour. As an Indian actor, I finally feel represented properly and truly,” she says.

Some stars may believe in starving themselves to fit dresses before red carpet appearances but not Tamannah. The actor says she gorges on food before any such event. “I eat. I gorge on food,” she says with a laugh. Not only that, she is pretty open about other challenges too. “That is such a big aspect of beauty that people don’t address. Stress does different things to different people. I have a massive pimple on my chin. I actually want girls to know that stress brings out so many different physical symptoms. For once, I was like this has been part of my journey and I need to celebrate this. I need to my own pimple. It’s all right,” she says.

Tamannaah says she is glad the perception about Cannes is changing globally as it showcases more mainstream commercial films each year. This year, one of the most-talked about premieres at the festival, for instance, was of the Tom Cruise-starrer Top Gun: Maverick. Tamannaah says, “There was a time when people thought it was for niche audiences and all about art films. But that line is so blurred today. So much of commercial cinema is being showcased here. For example, Parasite! It’s as commercial as it gets.”

Tamannaah has two releases lined up in the days to come. She will be seen in the Telugu comedy F3 alongside Venkatesh and Varun Tej. The film releases on May 27. She also has the romantic drama Gurthunda Seethakalam in the pipeline, which is slated for a June release.