Cannes security stops Aishwarya Rai at 'Jazbaa' promotions?

A new report surfaced claims Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was denied entry into a media event held at the Cannes Film Festival last month to promote her upcoming Bollywood film, ‘Jazbaa’.

The report states the actress was barred from entering the India Pavilion because her vehicle was not in possession of the mandatory Blue Pass that allows you access into the high security event.

However, the actress’ publicist has rubbished the claim in a statement to ‘Emirates 24|7’.

Rai Bachchan, who is an annual visitor at the prestigious film festival for 14 years, chose this global platform to unveil the first look of her upcoming thriller that will directed by Sanjay Gupta and co-produced by Sachin Joshi.

The incident in question reportedly occurred when her car was approaching the security gate to enter the India Pavilion, where the ‘Jazbaa’ event was to be held.

In a media statement, Satish Reddy, the Managing Director of World News Network who was present at the event said: “The security personnel didn’t allow Aishwarya the access to the Indian Pavilion because she was not in possession of the mandatory Blue Pass. 

“Therefore, Aishwarya and the whole ‘Jazbaa’ team [of] director Sanjay Gupta and co-producer Sachin Joshi had to wait 20 or more minutes at the gate.” 

Reddy added: “It was the prompt initiative taken by Indian Embassy Protocol officer, Satyapaul and the FICCI representatives, who saved the day for the actress and her film producers.”

The India Pavilion is jointly run by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

The statement further cites an email correspondence by the Indian Embassy Protocol Officer Satyapaul as saying: ‘The car in which Mrs Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was seated had no blue permission sticker that gives admission to the guests in the pavilion.

“They were barred on the gates. We had to rush and convince the chief security officer. It took us inside an hour to convince that Mrs Bachchan was a global celebrity. Even though the security chief on the pretext of we who will handle the police in case of double check granted a verbal permission. Finally all went on well.”

However, the 41-year-old star’s publicist has denied the story in an emailed statement to ‘Emirates 24|7’, saying: “Rubbish –  this is all wrong reportage. Her security personnel, along with the FICCI team, had made all security arrangements in the morning itself and when she went there everything went off smoothly as planned.”

‘Jazbaa’ director Gupta also took to his official Twitter account to deny the claims, posting an image of the report, adding: “This stupid story was so bizarre on the net that we did not even bother responding to it.”

Gupta and Rai Bachchan had unveiled a seven-minute clip to the upcoming movie, which also marks the actress’ return to the silver screen after a self-imposed hiatus after she fell pregnant with her daughter Aradhya.

Audiences who have seen this footage have marked it as one of the most powerful roles the actress has essayed till date; Rai Bachchan plays the mother of a kidnapped child with Irrfan Khan playing a suspended cop.

The movie is expected to release on October 8 in UAE cinemas.

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