As the 66th edition of the renowned film festival kicks off, we look at how India has made its presence felt at the French Riviera over the years

Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan is the face of Cannes as far as India is concerned. This year, she will be making her 12th consecutive appearance at the fest.

Vidya Balan will be on the jury panel of the 66th Cannes Film Festival. The jury has internationally acclaimed named like Hollywood star Nicole Kidman, director Ang Lee and jury president Steven Spielberg.


In picture: Members of the jury (from top L) filmmaker Steven Spielberg, Australian actress and producer Nicole Kidman, Taiwanese director, producer and scriptwriter Ang Lee, (from center L) Austrian actor Christopher Waltz, French actor and director Daniel Auteuil, Vidya Balan, (from bottom L) Japanese director Naomi Kawase, Scottish director Lynne Ramsay, Romanian director Cristian


There are reports that Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai's daughter Aaradhya will also be part of the Bachchan clan on the red carpet at the French Riviera this year


'Bombay Talkies' (2013), the anthology tribute to 100 years of Indian cinema by four top filmmakers, will have its gala screening at Cannes 2013, where India is the guest country. Amit Kumar's 'Monsoon Shootout' will have a midnight screening in the non-competition category


Ameesha Patel will be walking the red carpet at the Cannes film festival on May 22 for her upcoming film Shortcut Romeo.


Prosenjit Chatterjee has been nominated by the Information & Broadcasting (I&B) ministry to represent Bengali cinema at Cannes


Chetan Anand directed 'Neecha Nagar' won the prestigious Palme d'Or (Golden Palm) honour back in 1946. The film, which was inspired by a Hindi story, 'Neecha Nagar', which itself was based on Russian author Maxim Gorky's 'Lower Depths', took an expressionist look at the wide gulf between the rich and the poor


V. Shantaram's 'Amar Bhoopali', which tells the real-life story of a cow herder who has the gift of poetry, won an award for Excellence in Sound Recording at the fest in 1952. The movie was set in the waning days of the Maratha confederacy (early 19th century)


Bimal Roy's classic 'Do Bigha Zamin' won the Prix International (International Prize) at the 1954 festival. The touching plot revolves around a farmer who lives with his wife and son in a village severely affected by famine


Satyajit Ray's masterpiece 'Pather Panchali' won the Palme d'Or for Best Human Document at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival. The movie focuses on the life of a young protagonist, and his impoverished family, which resides in a dilapidated ancestral home in a village in rural Bengal

Mrinal Sen's 'Kharij' (The Case is Closed), which is the tale of a middle-class family whose child servant is found dead, won the Special Jury Prize in 1983


Mira Nair's 'Salaam Bombay', which chronicles the everyday life of children living on the city's streets, won the Camera d'Or (Golden Camera) award at the 1988 Cannes fest. In picture: Mira Nair with Hansa Vithal (who plays Manju In the film) and Shafiq Syed (who plays Chaipau). A Malayalam film 'Marana Simhasanam' (Throne of Death), directed and produced by Murali Nair, won the Camera d'Or (Golden Camera) award in 1999


'Kalpana', a 1948 dance-drama movie written and directed by noted dancer Uday Shankar, was screened at Cannes 2012. In 2010, the film was restored by World Cinema Foundation, of which director Martin Scorsese is the founder


Vikramaditya Motwane's debut film 'Udaan' became the first Hindi film to be screened in the Un Certain Regard Section, in 2010. The film is a positive tale of a 17-year-old boy, who wants to become a writer but meets obstacles on his way in the form of an abusive, stern father

The Bengali film Chatrak (Mushrooms) received a standing ovation after being screened at the Cannes film festival in the Director's Fortnight section in 2011. The tale of an architect whose success in his profession is overshadowed by his hunt for his mad brother, who is said to be living in the forest, the movie was directed by Sri Lankan director Vimukthi Jayasundara


Nawazuddin Siddiqui's three films were screened at Cannes 2012 -- Ashim Ahluwalia's 'Miss Lovely' and Anurag Kashyap's two part series 'Gangs of Wasseypur'