Jalaja is going to Cannes with G Aravindan's Thampu

early 45 years after she made her debut with National Award-winning director G Aravindan’s Thampu, a documentary-style film on a circus coming to a village, the actress is thrilled that she will be at the film’s screening at the Cannes Film Festival.

“It’s a pinch-me moment,” says the veteran actress, who is going to be accompanied by her daughter and actress, Devi, as her plus-one. “The past few days have been hectic and edge-of-seat with trying to get all our paperwork done. Ammu (Devi) and I are on cloud nine. This came totally out of the blue, because never in my dreams did I think that I would get the invitation to go to Cannes for the screening of this movie. We were not sure about sharing the news till we got our visas and tickets, and now that it has all fallen into place, we are excited to talk about it.”

Jalaja will be going with a small team that includes Shivendra Singh Durgapur of the Film Heritage Foundation, which restored the film, that is getting a red carpet screening in the Cannes Classics section.

The team will arrive at Cannes on May 19, when Madhavan’s Rocketry will premiere. “We have got the accreditation, which is important to be able to view movies, so we hope to go for this movie, too,” she says, adding that Thampu will be screen on May 21.

Jalaja says they are still trying to understand the systems, such as the ‘no phones’ rule, at the festival. “So then, I am wondering how we will get pictures taken while there. Anyway, I have told my daughter that we have to see how things are there,” says Jalaja laughing. But there’s been no curbing Devi’s enthusiasm with charting out their costumes and other things. “She’s been telling me that it is a high fashion moment; I’ve decided to wear a sari and she’s trying to scout out some interesting designer wear,” says Jalaja.