Aishwarya, Sonam, Freida Pinto to represent India at Cannes

It will be an "Indian flavour" again at the prestigious Cannes Film festival this year with former Miss World Aishwarya Rai Bachchan representing the country for the tenth consecutive year.

Aishwarya, along with Bollywood actress Sonam Kapoor and the Slumdog Millionaire actress Freida Pinto, will light up the Red Carpet for L'Oreal Paris at the Cannes Film Festival to be held from May 11-22.

It is for the first time that L'Oreal Paris will have three spokeswomen representing India at Cannes, a testimony to India's growing influence on the world stage.

Making the announcement, Vismay Sharma, Director, Consumer Products Division, L'Oreal India, said, "On the eve of the Cannes Film Festival, we are delighted and proud to have Aishwarya, Sonam and Freida representing India and L'Oreal Paris at Cannes. They represent the diversity that is India and are sure to be the epicentre of attraction at the festival." Aishwarya, who celebrates a decade of representing L'Oreal Paris at Cannes, will like previous years walk the red carpet on May 11 for the opening ceremony and attend the Opening Gala cocktail and dinner while attending various events at Cannes the next day.

On walking the Red Carpet at Cannes, Aishwarya, one of the best known faces of Indian cinema globally, said, "Being at Cannes for L'Oreal Paris has been an absolute pleasure and to experience this for the tenth consecutive year has been quite overwhelming. I thank the L'Oreal Paris team and the Cannes Film Festival for inviting me every year to represent India at one of the most glamorous red carpets on the world platform, celebrating cinema, showbiz, beauty, diversity and excellence.

Several countries have always had more than one L'Oreal Paris spokeswoman at Cannes and I'm glad India is finally getting the same recognition. I am happy that with Sonam and Freida, both beautiful women, being invited to the festival this year, India will have a stronger presence, which is a clear sign of the growing importance of the country."

Freida Pinto 'not recognised in Mumbai'

Freida Pinto has admitted that she was not recognised in public during a recent trip to her hometown of Mumbai.

The actress returned to the city alongside boyfriend and Slumdog Millionaire co-star Dev Patel in order to visit the poorer areas with a charity organisation but said that the residents did not acknowledge her.

"People in the city recognise me as the girl from Slumdog Millionaire, and inevitably they stare. But when I visited the slums with an NGO, nobody recognised me at all. I didn't mind," she told the Sunday Times.

"As for Dev they hounded him, calling him crorepati, which means millionaire."

I wouldn't want to do a Bollywood film

"Slumdog Millionaire" star Freida Pinto has ruled out plans of starring in Bollywood films as she is interested in more real cinema rather than the song and dance routines.

She has been offered several "stereotypical" roles for "a girl from India" since finding fame - but she's adamant she will avoid parts in all-singing, all-dancing Bollywood movies, contactmusic.com reports.

"I wouldn't want to do a Bollywood film per se, but I would like to do an Indian language film. For some reason I think Bollywood has become synonymous with commercial cinema, which is song and dance and everything that is larger than life. I am interested in the reality," she said to a magazine.

"It is great to have entertainment, but I think there needs to be something that also makes you want to go back and think about what you've seen," she added.

"Mindless cinema is not my cup of tea...I could get into trouble for saying that. I don't think Bollywood is only mindless cinema, but a lot of films they churn out are not films that I completely enjoy watching," the actress said.

"I say hats off to them for doing what they do, because it takes a lot of courage. It is easier to stand and deliver dialogue. Imagine dancing a song out and kind of expressing through it. I think it is a challenge and requires you to lose your inhibitions," she added.