‘Haven’t prepared much for Cannes this time’

This will be actor Sonam Kapoor’s (left) seventh year at Cannes Film Festival. The sought-after fashionista of Bollywood — whose sartorial choices at the French Riviera always make headlines — says she hasn’t prepped much for her appearance at the 70th edition of the coveted fest this year. Sonam, who will be seen at the Cannes red carpet on May 21 and May 22, says: “This year, since we are busy doing so many other things, I have not prepared much for Cannes. Usually, my sister Rhea styles me and she is busy with a film. I was also busy shooting for two films... So we decided not to put any pressure on ourselves and just have a good time. We don’t think about it much. It’s not about the status quo of being on the red carpet.”

Sonam says she would have been tense if she was walking the red carpet for a movie. “I’m going for a brand. For a movie, I would’ve been so stressed out that I’d faint on the red carpet. But because it (her appearance at Cannes) is for a make up brand, it’s about being beautiful and you look beautiful only if you’re happy inside and confident.”

On the film front, the 31-year-old actor recently shot for filmmaker R Balki’s upcoming film, Padman — a biopic on Arunachalam Muruganantha, the man who introduced affordable sanitary napkins for women.

Calling Balki a “fantastic filmmaker”, she says: “He’s someone I have a very strong connection with. I hope he picks me in all his films now.”

Earlier this month, Sonam was honoured with the National Film Award Special Mention for Neerja (2016), directed by Ram Madhvani. The actor says it has been an honour to work with directors such as Madhvani, Balki, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra and Aanand L. Rai. “They are genuine people who want to make honest films,” she says.