Preity Zinta and Santosh Sivan pictured at the 77th Cannes Film Festival. (Image courtesy: IANS)
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Preity Zinta presented Santosh Sivan, who shot her debut film Dil Se in 1998, with the prestigious Pierre Angenix Excellence in Cinematography Award at the 77th Cannes Film Festival on Friday night in the presence of Ambassador of India to France Javed Ashraf. Santosh Sivan became the first Asian to receive the award named after the inventor of the zoom lens that revolutionized cinematography.
Preity looked every inch elegant in a red-pink saree as she took to the stage at the Palais de Festival to honor Santosh Sivan.
Before presenting the award to Santosh Sivan, the ambassador in his welcome speech pointed out how the “greatest film festival” has become “a very special one for India” in its 77th year.
Ambassador Ahraf pointed out that Cannes has always held a special place for India, becoming an “enduring symbol of excellence”.
“You recognized and honored the best of us,” the ambassador said. “It’s where some of our best things for the world are discovered. But it’s also where some of our young dreams are gently and gracefully landed and careers begin.”
Santosh Sivan wore a tuxedo with a felt hat to complete his look for the occasion. On receiving the award, he said: “This is the most extraordinary time of my life. It’s an amazing place to receive this… Cannes Film Festival is the most beautiful festival I’ve ever attended.”
He added: “Like Preeti said, I don’t want to say too much, I hope my father, mother, brother, who are no more, are smiling.” Admitting that he was “a really bad husband because I was constantly filming”, Sivan said his family is with him and “they should be really happy”.
Santosh Sivan thanked his home state of Kerala, “where I come from because that is the culture I have imbibed”. He added: “And it’s the Malayalam industry where I learned the basics because cinematography is without language. From there I moved to Tamil cinema and from Hindi to Hollywood. The great thing about this business is that it has no boundaries”.
A graduate of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) and Padma Shri recipient, Santosh Sivan has made 55 feature films and 50 documentaries and won a stack of national and international awards.
Mani Ratnam’s Dil Se, starring Preity, Shah Rukh Khan and Manisha Koirala in lead roles, accelerated his journey. Preity and Siwan will be working together once again in Rajkumar Santoshi’s upcoming period drama Lahore 1947.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
