Cannes - Bollywood presence

As is being widely publicised in the media since the last few days, the who's who of Bollywood (read Hindi film industry) is attending the Cannes Film Festival in France. Right from Aishwarya Rai (does she go to Cannes every year), to Karan Johar to Mahesh Bhatt to Ajay Devgan. It is reported that over 30 bollywood film-makers are there at Cannes this year promoting their films.

One quick question - Is Cannes the place for our bollywood producers to 'sell' their films? Or are they there just because the world media desends on Cannes every year? Frankly, I dont know. Subject to correction, for some reason I was under the impression that film-makers at Cannes would essentially focus on marketing their films, forging international ties for film distributions etc. I have no idea how much of Bollywood or Indian cinema for that matter would get genuine commercial interests from international studios.

Aishwarya Rai gets all the media attention because she is apparently the most beautiful woman in the world and all that rubbish.

I dont know how many people would be able to identify with Karan Johar genre of movies. Or for that matter, what would be the sales pitch of a filmmaker like Mahesh Bhatt? Here is the Indian version of the latest hollywood flick? Would that kind of a sales pitch make any business?

Of course, the probable saving grace for Bollywood at Cannes this year could be Vishal Bharadwaj's Omkara which is an adaptation of William Shakespeare's Othello. Now, this is something that any cine-goer in the world would want to watch and understand as to how Vishal Bharadwaj would adapt the story of Othello interwined in the typical milieu of the state of Uttar Pradesh.Personally, I would be very interested in Omkara.

Anyways, so much for our Bollywood going international.

One quick question before I part: Has Aishwarya Rai made it in Hollywood?