Nine Indians who have served on the Cannes Film Festival jury: Aishwarya to Deepika

Deepika Padukone arguably has one of the most important jobs at the Cannes Film Festival this year. As a member of the nine-person jury , she will be instrumental in choosing the winner of the 21 films in contention, including one for the coveted Palme d'Or. Alongside her is veteran French actor Vincent Lindon as chairman of the jury, as well as British actress and director Rebecca Hall, Swedish actress Noomi Rapace, Italian actress and director Jasmine Trinca, Iranian director Asghar Farhadi , French director Ladj Ly, American director Jeff Nichols and Norwegian director Joachim Trier . Scroll through the gallery below to see Deepika Padukone at Cannes 2022 : Padukone may have made history in recent weeks by becoming the first Indian to be a Louis Vuitton ambassador , but she is certainly not the first from her country to play such a significant role in Cannes. It's been nine years since someone from India appeared on the jury, but here are eight other famous faces who have served in the past. Filmmaker Mrinal Sen is the man who can claim to be the first Indian jury member at Cannes. He joined the group in 1982, the year before his film Kharij won the jury prize. Other films of his to be presented in France include Ek Din Pratidin , Khandar and Genesis. Next up was notable director Mira Nair, who served on the jury in 1990. Nair has many accolades and nominations to her name, and her debut feature film Salaam Bombay! , which was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars in 1988, won the Camera d'Or and Grand Prix du Publique in Cannes, alongside numerous other awards. Arundhati Roy may be better known for her literary prowess, having won the Booker Prize for her novel The God Of Small Things , published in 1997, but she was invited to join the Cannes film jury back in 2000. The author and activist's early career focused on screenplays and she's written for television, too. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan made her first appearance at Cannes Film Festival in 2002, where she turned heads wearing a yellow sari on the red carpet for the premiere of her multi-award-winning film Devdas , which co-starred Shah Rukh Khan. Only one year later, she was serving on the jury, becoming the first Indian actress to do so. Scroll through the gallery above to see Aishwarya Rai at Cannes through the years. Two years after Rai, actress and filmmaker Nandita Das served as a jury member, in 2005. In 2013, the award-winning star, who's known for directing Firaaq (2008) and for starring in Fire (1996) and Bawandar (2000), joined the jury for Cinefondation, a Cannes foundation that promotes next-generation international filmmakers, as well as the short film jury. Veteran actress Sharmila Tagore joined the international jury in 2009, but her career at Cannes started decades before that, when her 1960 film Devi , directed by Satyajit Ray, was screened at the festival in 1962. It was Shekhar Kapur's turn in 2010. The award-winning, Bafta and Golden Globe-nominated filmmaker and actor is known for his work on Elizabeth (1998), The Four Feathers (2002) and Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007). It was three years before another Indian representative served on the jury, but in 2013, multi-award-winning Kahaani actress Vidya Balan was invited to join the prestigious group, the same year she made her Cannes debut.

Nine Indians who have served on the Cannes Film Festival jury: Aishwarya to Deepika

From Mrinal Sen in 1982 to Deepika Padukone in 2022, India has been represented on the jury for 40 years