When Smita Patil Walked 1976 Cannes Red Carpet In Her Best Saree, Odisha’s Pasapali, To ‘Attract Attention’

Bhubaneswar: Indian celebrities are creating an impression with their fashion outing at Cannes 2022. Amid all the hullaballoo, veteran actress Shabana Azmi recently shared an unseen photo with Shyam Benegal and Smita Patil from their debut at Cannes Film Festival back in 1976 and recalled how the Indian film director made them wear their best sarees and parade up and down the carpet to ‘attract attention’, since they had no budget to promote their film, Nishant.

“At Cannes for Nishant 1976. We had no publicity material and no money so Shyam Benegal asked Smita Patil and me to wear our best saris and walk up and down the promenade to attract attention. And when people turned around to stare at these strange looking exotic creatures we would persuasively plead “Our film is showing on so and so date pls come to watch it “ and we managed a full house! lThat was the advertising acumen of Shyam Benegal,” she wrote on her Instagram handle.

In the picture, Smita Patil can be seen in Pasapali saree, a type of Sambalpuri Bandha Saree of Odisha. “It is a ‘Double Ikat’ saree. Sambalpuri Bandha Saree and Fabrics have the GI tag,” informed Anita Sabat, managing trustee of Odita Trust.

Though not much can be said about the colours in the weave since the picture is in black and white, Anita added that Sambalpuri sarees mostly incorporate traditional motifs like shankha (shell), chakra (wheel), phula (flower) in red, black and white.

According to Prafulla Meher, a weaver who currently works as a supervisor at the Director of Textiles’ regional office in Sambalpur, it is a Sambalpuri Saktapar/Saptapar (Pasapali) saree with three to five rows of chequered patterns resembling a pasa woven in contrasting colours on the main body.

“It does not look like a Bichitrapuri sarees which has a border passing along the main body. Earlier such plain fabric was sold and people would cut 5.5 metres from it and drape it like a saree. These were lightweight sarees,” he added.

In 2017 too, Shabana tweeted that they had only 8 USD each and survived on the per diem given by the festival. “Shyam had Smita and me walk down the promenade in saris 4 attention,” she wrote.

This year, film promoter from Odisha, who is visiting Cannes film festival, Jitendra Mishra was seen with his wife Donna in Sambalpuri attire. Jitendra himself designed and tailor-made both the Sambalpuri silk outfits for this special occasion. “ This is indeed a great honour to be invited for a foreign film premiere at Cannes, that to a film in the main competition section of the festival, but it is a proud, happy and emotional moment for both of us to wear our own handloom Sambalpuri. I have walked Cannes Red Carpet several times in Tuxedo but there is certainly a magic touch in our Sambalpuri attire; I feel more confident and optimistic when I wear it, I feel like my entire family from Odisha, India is walking with me. In 2019 also I sported a Sambalpuri Jacket on Cannes Red Carpet” he said in a release.