Vidya Balan to be a part of the Cannes Film Festival jury panel

The very prestigious 66th Cannes Film Festival's jury is to have another Bollywood addition, after actress Nandita Das, who is the part of jury for short films. Leading Bollywood actress, Vidya Balan too has been reportedly called upon to be a part of the Cannes jury panel this year.

Headed by ace Hollywood director and jury President, Steven Spielberg, the panel comprises of the who’s who of the World Cinema including Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman, 'Life of Pi' director Ang Lee, Oscar-winner Christophe Waltz, Japanese director Naomi Kawase, Scottish director Lynne Ramsay, French actor-director Daniel Auteuil and Romanian director Cristian Mungiu.

The jury will be responsible of selecting the paramount from the 19 films in competition for the coveted Palme d'Or prize this year. The festival will take place in France from 15th to 26th of May. Elated filmmaker Dibakar Banerjee tweeted his contentment over the news saying, "Vidya Balan on Cannes jury... awesome...."

The festival will kick start on May 15th with the special screening of The Great Gatsby, directed by Baz Luhrmann and close on May 26th with Zulu, directed by Jerome Salle. The Great Gatsby features superstar Amitabh Bachchan in a cameo and the actor will be seen attending the opening ceremony. His daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, who is a regular at Cannes, has also received a special invite to attend the ceremony.

The festival has invited India to be a part of the celebration of 100 years of Hindi Cinema, which will include four Indian films as an official entry into Cannes. Bombay Talkies, an amalgamation of four short stories by Bollywood directors, Anurag Kashyap, Dibakar Banerjee, Zoya Akhtar and Karan Johar will be screened at the festival.

Anurag will also screen his film Ugly in festival's Directors' Fortnight sidebar and two of his co-productions, Dabba (Lunchbox) and Monsoon Shootout at the Cannes Critics Week and Midnight Screening sections respectively.