We are officially in the middle of the festival. This is the period when sleep deprivation, and exhaustion seeps in to all the festival goers. You can see it in the faces of people walking into the festival area in the morning, it feels like a typical Monday morning like anywhere in the world. There is a certain slouch with the way the people walk, in complete contrast to the way they were during the first initial days of the festival. There are advertisements placed here and there saying that you could "rent a yacht", "play golf" or if you're cash strapped as me, the next best thing you could do is to take a walk along the croisette near the festival area. This stretch of road along the waterfront is about a mile long and has numerous clubs and restaurants right in front of the beach. These places are the haunts of celebrity hunters and celebrities alike. In...

Sun, glorious sun!! It's back, the sun and along with it someone who we had last seen nineteen years back. The team of George Lucas, Spielberg and Harrison Ford have brought Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull to Cannes for its premier. From the early hours of the morning people were walking about in town with the trademark faux Indy Fedoras (hats). It was like the raid of the cowboys in the land of cheese and wine. I finally got to wear my shorts and flip-flops today. As I stepped out of the hotel for the day, there they were, the Moroccans, back, selling - not umbrellas but guess what? Sunglasses!! Brilliant! These guys had huge boards slung over their shoulders on which shades of various sizes, makes and colours were hung. This time round they didn't see any point asking a man wearing spectacles. The first appointment of the day was to be what the...

Everyone had been hoping for a nice sunny day especially me. I have with me only a thin jacket, which frankly does not do much justice to its price tag! The rest of my bag is filled with shorts, shirts and flip-flops. With the rain beating down I don't think these will be much in use. Today was to be my big day with Woody Allen but then Cannes was to be witness to two absolutely different personalities. Mike Tyson was in town for the screening of his biographical documentary "Tyson" filmed by James Toback. These two characters were diametrically opposite mystiques and Cannes seemed to relish in seeing them together. Woody Allen was in town for the premier of his film "Vicky Cristina Barcelona". The film stars Penelope Cruz, Javier Bardem, Rebecca Hall and Scarlett Johansson. Two friends, Vicky and Cristina are in Barcelona on a holiday from America. They fall into a whirlwind of romance, lust and partner variations during a...

This morning Rajeev had to leave for India. Well, I know he did say that he had send his last blog, but as they day the show must go on. I will be taking charge from here on. So the helm is in my hands. I had to somehow get absolutely get adjusted to the fact that I had to carry all equipment on my own. This seems perfectly fine till the first hour then the pain sets inJ. Being a Londoner that I am how could I go anywhere without rain following me. Cannes had its first taste of rain since the festival began. I had to reach for a press conference this morning but I ended up walking towards the wrong hotel. Anyways, I did reach there finally, five minutes late !! the Reliance BIG entertainment press conference began half an hour late.. the company announced that they would be investing a billion dollars in various film projects over...