Khan rises at Cannes

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">While the spotlight may have shone on Aishwarya Rai, Aamir Khan in his own quiet, understated way won the day at Cannes. After <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Pather Panchali</span>, the next big event was the private screening of Ketan Mehta''s <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">The Rising</span>.There was much brouhaha, despite the fact that it was an exclusive screening only for the European, South African and Australian buyers of The Rising. The print of The Rising, which was shown to the exclusive gathering, in trade parlance, is called a ''work in progress'' print. <br /><br />After the screening, the film was quickly snapped up; in short, all international territories were bought. Producer Bobby Bedi called Aamir Khan, who is shooting in Mumbai. Even as Bobby spoke to Aamir on the phone, the distributor who bought the South Africa rights of The Rising snatched the phone from Bobby and gushed to Aamir about how he had fallen in love with the epic film. <br /><br />When contacted, Aamir Khan said, "It was a private screening only for the buyers. I''m keeping my fingers crossed.There''s still more post-production work to be completed." <br /><span style="" font-style:="" italic="">jitesh.pillai@timesgroup.com</span></div> </div>