It is raining Bollywood celebs at the 59th Cannes Film Festival.

With over 80 Indian showbiz companies being part of the India Pavilion that opened Thursday for international buyers and collaborators at the 10-day Cannes film market, the spotlight turned on Bollywood.

The Indian companies will showcase over 65 films, including brand new Bollywood products like Karan Johar's "Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna" and Vishal Bhardwaj's "Othello" adaptation, "Omkara", and 35 new projects.

The India Pavilion will also showcase the country as a hub for shooting, post-production and special effects for global filmmakers.

Conceptualised and driven by the national entertainment committee of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in collaboration with an array of leading Indian film companies, India's presence in the Cannes Film Market is already a few years old - and growing.

"This is the biggest ever country's participation at Cannes and India Pavilion has turned a lot of attention," chairman of the CII National Entertainment Committee Bobby Bedi said.

"The Indian film industry promises closing many gaps that exist in the global movie business. The professionally run entertainment companies and the new generation moviemakers are changing the face of the Indian cinema," added Bedi.

While Film actress Priety Zinta added charm to the opening of the pavilion as her fans thronged at the ceremony for a glimpse of the Bollywood starlet, the presence of actress Aishwarya Rai, a Cannes regular by virtue of being one of the brand ambassadors of French cosmetics giant L'Oreal, and filmmaker Johar drew the attention on Bollywood.

Aishwarya sashayed up the red carpet in an off-the-shoulder gown, with Hollywood actress Andie MacDowell for company, on the opening night. She is scheduled to stay on for the special market screening festival of Jagmohan Mundhra's "Provoked" later in the festival.

Preity Zinta also made a grand entrance at the show yesterday. She was escorted by Caroline Gruosi-Scheufele, the president of jewellery giant Chopard. Preity -- looking very glamorous -- attended two premieres: The Wind That Shakes The Barley and Paris, Je T'aime.

Even the presence of Cannes Market Director Jerome Paillard, Bobby Bedi, P.P. Hinduja of the Hinduja Group and Amit Khanna, president of the Film and Television Guild of India, became the talking point at the world's largest film market.

Co-chair of the Assocham Entertainment Industry Leaders Council, Bhuvan Lall, said: "For the Independent Indian Filmmakers (IIF), the international marketplace is no longer a luxury to consider for the future, but an integral part of any financing, co-production and distribution plan.

"Gathering under one marketing and promotional umbrella enables IIF to more efficiently and effectively present their productions and projects to the world market," he added.

According to filmmaker Sudhir Mishra, one of the brains behind the IIF initiative, the move has been necessitated by the growing marginalisation of films that are not made in the manner of assembly-line products.

"Unless we watch out, we will be swamped out by the big guns of the commercial Hindi cinema," he said.

"In the past, they were content to let us do our thing. But now they want to control everything - the money, the festivals, the awards," warned the outspoken Mishra.

But he was quick to point out that IIF initiative "is anything but a personal battle against anybody. Our only an attempt is to protect our right to make the kind of films that we believe in".

With the opening of the pavilion, business networking and services offered by Indian companies will receive a boost, as over 80 international buyers are taking part in the film festival.