The Bollywood stars have melted away. Aishwarya Rai, Preity Zinta, Ajay Devgan and Viveik Oberoi have returned to their orbits after doing the rounds of the Croisette. So the Indian television journos covering the 59th Cannes Film Festival are at a bit of a loss.

Without the desi stars and their sound bytes, their job has become a whole lot more difficult. It is Milind Soman who has, for whatever he is worth in the Cannes context, emerged as their saviour.

The hunky model-turned-actor and his girlfriend and French-Chinese actress Lena Jam-Panoi flew into Cannes on Sunday to register their presence on the red carpet.

Soman is one of the stars of Paris-based Indian filmmaker Pan Nalin's upcoming "Valley of Flowers" and Jam-Panoi happens to be the leading lady of the film.

What else is happening on the Indian front in Cannes? The Goa chief secretary, J.P. Singh, and the director of the International Film Festival of India, Vishvajit Sahay, are here to formally announce the dates of the third edition of the event in Goa.

Industrialist Bhupinder Kumar Modi of MCorp Global, too, is here. The bowler hat-sporting tycoon is expected to announce the revival of "Buddha", an international venture that is expected to cost several times more than any other film ever made in India.

Clearly, there is still enough up ahead by way of hype for the Indian media contingent currently camping in Cannes.