Ash, Bips and Arjun Rampal to be at Cannes

The Cannes International Film Festival to be held from May 16-27, 2012 will once again have several Bollywood celebs making their presence felt including Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Arjun Rampal and Bipasha Basu.

Arjun is expected to make an appearance at the forthcoming 65th Cannes International Film Festival as the ambassador of the brand Chivas, the official partner of the event. He is likely to be accompanied by his designer friend Rohit Bal.

The actor had recently expressed a desire to showcase his upcoming film 'Heroine' at the Cannes Film Festival. "I would love to be a part of the festival. If 'Heroine' can be showcased there, it will be great," said Arjun.

Directed by Madhur Bhandarkar and co-produced by Ronnie Screwvala and Bhandarkar, the film has Kareena Kapoor and Arjun in the lead roles and had been announced at the Cannes festival last year with Aishwarya Rai in the lead. But since she opted out of the film due to her pregnancy, the director replaced her with Kareena. However, to keep the red carpet tradition alive, Aishwarya is most likely to grace the French film festival again this time. She has been attending the festival since 2002 as the global face of L'Oreal.

Mallika Sherawat too has been a regular at Cannes since the last few years though there has been no confirmation about her presence this year. Sources say Bipasha may also attend the festival to promote her debut international movie 'Singularity'. Based on the first Anglo-Maratha war of 18th century colonial India, this romantic movie also marks the Hollywood debut of actor Abhay Deol. This will be Bipasha’s second walk on the Cannes red carpet. The actress was part of the festival in 2007 when she promoted her film 'Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal', along with her co-star and then boyfriend John Abraham.

The year 2009 saw Karan Johar attending the festival to represent a lifestyle brand. The subsequent year saw Deepika Padukone making her presence felt in traditional Indian wear as the face of another lifestyle brand. In 2011, Sonam Kapoor, Minissha Lamba and Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra walked the red carpet.

While Sonam and Minissha were representing the brands they endorse, Mehra's docu-drama 'Bollywood-The Greatest Love Story Ever Told' was screened at the event.