'Salaam Bombay', 'The Lunchbox', 'All We Imagine As Light': Indian films that made us proud at the Cannes Film Festival over the years

Filmmaker Payal Kapadia made history as the first Indian director to win the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival with her film ‘All We Imagine As Light,’ which received an eight-minute standing ovation at the 77th edition. The film stars Kani Kusruti, Divya Prabha, and Chhaya Kadam in leading roles. It took 30 years for an Indian movie to be screened and win this prestigious recognition at Cannes. Let's take a look at the movies that previously won different awards before indie films made this 30-year gap at the glorious festival stage.

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Chetan Anand's classic 'Neecha Nagar' won the top prize, Palme d'Or, at the 1946 Cannes Film Festival. The film, inspired by Hayatulla Ansari's short story of the same name, highlights the disparities between the rich and poor in Indian society.

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Bimal Roy's 'Do Bigha Zameen' won the prestigious Prix Internationale at the 1953 festival. It featured Nirupa Roy and Balraj Sahani in main roles. It is based on Rabindranath Tagore's Bengali poem "Dui Bigha Jomi". It was considered as one of the finest pieces of early parallel cinema in India.

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Directed by Prakash Arora and produced by Raj Kapoor, 'Boot Polish' received a special mention for child actress Naaz at the 1955 Cannes Film Festival. It also featured Ratan Kumar and David in key roles. A heart-touching story of two boys and their lives in a slum.

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Satyajit Ray's 'Pather Panchali' won the Palme d'Or for Best Human Document in 1956. Ray’s directorial debut was produced by the government of West Bengal. It is an adaptation of Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay's Bengali novel and features Subir Banerjee, Kanu Banerjee, Karuna Banerjee, Uma Dasgupta, Pinaki Sengupta, and Chunibala Devi in main roles.

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Directed by Mrinal Sen, 'Kharij' is based on a novel by Ramapada Chowdhury. It won the Special Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1983. This box office hit film was about a middle-class family and their efforts to pacify the father of their child servant after his death.

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Mira Nair's crossover film "Salaam Bombay" won both the Camera d'Or and the Audience Award at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival. This is Nair's first feature film. The film portrays the life of children living in slums in Bombay. It stars Shafiq Syed, Raghuvir Yadav, Anita Kanwar, Nana Patekar, Hansa Vithal, and Chanda Sharma in key roles.

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Directed by Shaji N. Karun, the Malayalam film "Piravi" earned a special mention in the Camera d'Or category at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival. It stars Premji, Archana, and Lakshmi Krishnamurthy. The film is based on the life of Professor T. V. Eachara Warrier, whose son was killed in police custody during the National Emergency Period of 1976.

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The Malayalam film 'Marana Simhasanam,' directed by Murali Nair, made it to the Cannes Film Festival after 10 years without Indian film presence. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section and won the Camera d'Or at the 1999 festival.

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Ritesh Batra's 'The Lunchbox' was screened at Critics' Week at the Cannes Film Festival in 2013 and later won the Grand Rail d'Or. The film stars Nimrat Kaur, Irrfan Khan, and Nawazuddin Siddiqui in main roles. It was nominated for Best Film Not in the English Language at the 2015 British Academy Film Awards.

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