I am not here to promote glamour, I am presenting brand India in Cannes

Chef Vikas Khanna, who is also attending the 70th Cannes Film Festival will showcase the trailer of his biopic, Buried Seeds, today. The chef says he is there to promote art and not glamour.

While people are busy applauding actor Deepika Padukone for her sexy yet elegant appearance in Cannes, a few know that chef Vikas Khanna is also at Cannes Films Festival, and will debut the trailer of his biopic, Buried Seeds, today.

The chef is participating in the festival for the last three consecutive year. He says, “I am not a brand ambassador like the film stars who are here, I am here because of on my own art. There is a lot of difference between the two. I am not representing glamour and fashion, I am representing India,” adding that there is a purpose to his visit.

“No one knows why these film stars visit this festival. But, I have a purpose and people are aware of it. Kitchens of Gratitude, a short documentary that showcased the power of food was premiered last year and Utsav — A Culinary Epic of Indian Festivals, a book, were launched last to last year. I believe it’s a beautiful platform to promote art and not to represent how beautiful you look.”

The full-length docu-drama, Buried Seeds, is directed by award-winning Russian filmmaker Andrei Severny. The film is a celebration of Khanna’s journey from Amritsar to America. “Before Andrei, several people have approached me for a screenplay but I only agreed to Anderi because he had an outline. He wanted to show the journey of an ordinary man,” says Khanna.

Through this docu-drama, the renowned chef also wants to emphasise the fact that in India people still consider cooking as a back up plan and not a profession. Khanna says, “I was differently-abled in my childhood but my family supported me and motivated me to opt for cooking as a profession. It was difficult for others to accept a man as a cook and against all the odds, I did it. The director wants to bring out all these through the documentary and what can be a better time than this year. It’s 70 years of India’s independence… 70 years of freedom and coincidently its 70 years of Cannes as well.”