India at Cannes: Vidya, Rajinikanth, Aishwarya, Sonam, Freida...

The Cannes film festival has turned out to be a premiere red carpet event for a number of Indian stars.

There is a clamour these days within the celebrities to be among the crème de la crème of world cinema.

The 2013 Cannes edition will see a host of Indian actors attending the 11-day cinema carnival as it celebrates '100 years of Indian Cinema'.

As this year's fest kicks off, we take a look at those celebrities from Indian shore set to rock the French Riviera.

Indian actress and member of the Feature Film Jury Vidya Balan arrives on May 14, 2013 at the Martinez Hotel in Cannes to attend a photocall of the Jury on the eve of the 66th edition of the Cannes Film Festival. (AFP)

The big Bollywood attraction this year is Vidya Balan, who has been included in the nine-member jury headed by Steven Spielberg.

Vidya made her first official appearance at the cocktail party at the Martinez Hotel in a Sabyasachi lehenga.

(AP)

Actor-film-maker Nandita Das, who has earlier served on the jury in 2005, has again been invited to the film extravaganza - this time around, as a member of the Cine Foundation and short film jury.

The event will open today (May 15) with the screening of the Baz Luhrmann film 'The Great Gatsby' and Amitabh Bachchan, who is part of the film, will attend the red carpet.

The Indian megastar is already at the Cannes and enjoying every bit of the hospitality. He is all set for the countless number of events lined up, "Getting to bed ... early call tomorrow and busy ... media first then red carpet then after party and all compulsory," he tweeted.

He continued, "...Here at Cannes for opening of Great Gatsby and the energy and excitement of International greats in the field of entertainment .. un forgetable !!"

Superstar Rajinikanth will also make his visit to Cannes this year. The actor will unveil the trailer of his upcoming film 'Kochadaiyaan' at the film festival.

This year will mark Sonam Kapoor’s third visit to Festival de Cannes. The young actor is delighted to be part of the event and has been spending a lot of time researching and putting together her wardrobe for the same. 

Sonam Kapoor attends the Opening Ceremony and 'The Great Gatsby' Premiere during the 66th Annual Cannes Film Festival at the Theatre Lumiere on May 15, 2013 in Cannes, France. (GETTY)

Apart from Amitabh Bachchan and Vidya, Sonam will be the only Indian present at the inaugural ceremony. Sonam tweeted, "On my way to the Cannes Film Festival. Really excited to walk the Red Carpet".

Aishwarya will be making her 12th consecutive appearance this year. She will also be the guest of honour at a special evening celebrating 100 years of Indian cinema at Cannes on May 19, besides walking the red carpet on May 20.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan's journey at Cannes has been synonymous with L'Oreal Paris, making her a global face for Indian cinema.

Another attraction for Bollywood lovers in Europe will be the 'grand world premiere' of 'Bombay Talkies' which will see the four director of the movie, Anurag Kashyap, Dibakar Banerjee, Karan Johar and Zoya Akhtar, walk the red carpet.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui has become India's new face at Cannes. Last year, the actor walked the red carpet for his two films. And, this year he will yet again walk the carpet as his three films 'Bombay Talkies', 'Dabba' and 'Monsoon Shootout' will premiere at the film festival.

Freida Pinto, who is also the brand ambassador of L'Oreal, will yet again walk the red carpet this year at Cannes.

Ameesha Patel will walk the red carpet in Manish Malhotra creation at the Cannes red carpet. Her upcoming film 'Shortcut Romeo' will premiere at the film festival. Neil Nitin Mukesh will give company to her co-actress Ameesha and director Susi Ganesh at the premiere of 'Shortcut Romeo'.

Sherlyn Chopra will walk the red carpet this year at Cannes. The actress will unveil the second trailer of her bold drama 'Kamasutra 3D' along with director Rupesh Paul.

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