Exclusive | Alia Bhatt On Returning To Cannes: 'Focusing on Conversations and Feeling Calm'

Alia Bhatt made her second appearance at the Cannes Film Festival on May 12, returning to the French Riviera for cinema’s most prestigious celebration. Ahead of her official red carpet appearance at the festival, as a global ambassador for L’Oréal Paris, Bhatt was photographed at the iconic Hôtel Martinez in a summery princess-style mint-green ball gown, offering an early glimpse of her Cannes style this year.

In an exclusive conversation with Anupama Chopra for The Hollywood Reporter India, the actor reflected on returning to Cannes in 2026 after making her debut last year, and representing India on a global stage. Bhatt admitted that her first visit to the festival had been “chaotic,” with barely any time to absorb the experience before stepping onto the red carpet. 

This year, she said, she consciously arrived a day early to slow things down. “I had a nice lunch, I walked around, I watched a movie,” she said, adding that she already felt “more centered and calm” at the start of the festival. 

Another priority this time, she shared, was making space for conversations and meeting people from around the world of cinema — something she rarely gets the time to do back home amid a packed work schedule.

“This is such a lovely opportunity to meet people from across the world in cinema. People that you admire, people that you might not know. But just get to know someone, see what they're up to in life. So conversations and being calm,” Bhatt smiled.

The 79th annual Cannes Film Festival will run from May 12 to May 23. On the film front, Alia Bhatt recently announced a new production venture, a coming-of-age romantic comedy titled Don’t Be Shy. The film is written and directed by Sreeti Mukerji and will stream on Prime Video. The project will be produced by Bhatt alongside her sister Shaheen Bhatt under their banner Eternal Sunshine Productions. Meanwhile, as an actor, Bhatt has two of the biggest tentpoles of her career lined for release—the spy actioner Alpha and the Sanjay Leela Bhansali-directed romantic drama Love & War. 

Watch the full interview dropping on The Hollywood Reporter India YouTube channel later today