KJO at Cannes with 'My Name Is Khan'

Joining the Bollywood brigade in Cannes for the film festival that started yesterday is Karan Johar.

“Anything to grab many more eyeballs,” says the dapper Bollywood filmmaker who’s hoping to negotiate a mega global release for his Shah Rukh Khan starrer My Name Is Khan and the Saif Ali Khan-Kareena Kapoor film Jehaad with foreign distributing giants.

Karan will be pitching his own tent at the Market Section of the 62nd Cannes Film Festival between Saturday and next Tuesday to sell the world rights of his films. But, before that, he is slated to make a grand entry by walking the red carpet as one of many hotshot international celebs at the prestigious event for a lifestyle brand. Then only, will he be free to get into the private meetings set up with international studios.

“The Indian presence at Cannes has always been tremendous but now, with the world waking up to Indian cinema, we are only growing further. It’s great to see the exchange of ideas at various levels,” says Karan, adding, “I hope something will work out. It’s very important for me because my films have a global message.”

To get his message across, the filmmaker has made a short showreel of My Name Is Khan and kept it solely for private meetings with distributors. “There cannot be a bigger platform than Cannes,” he says. Incidentally, the film is only 50 per cent complete. Karan and Shah Rukh go to San Francisco to finish it in July.