Bollywood films off late have been making waves internationally owing to the interesting plots, content-driven cinema and presence of popular actors in the film. Both commercial and non-commercial films from India have found a niche market of audience across the globe.

Availability of Hindi films on OTT platforms is also playing a major part in exposing our Bollywood actors to International audiences. Festivals are looking towards India not just for the films that come out of it but the people behind and in front of the camera are also being recognized for their talents.

Many film festivals are reaching out to mainstream and parallel cinema actors from the Indian industry to head panels, become part of juries and even lead some masterclasses.

Let us look into some of the Bollywood actors who are part of international film festivals and who repeatedly do us proud!

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

Former beauty queen Aishwarya Rai Bachchan after her successful stint in Hollywood with her two films Pink Panther 2 and Bride and Prejudice, has made a comeback in Bollywood and is awaited her next release Fanney Khan alongside Anil Kapoor and Rajkummar Rao. Aishwarya is a regular face at the Cannes Film Festival red carpet and was honoured to be on the jury list at the Cannes Film Festival in the year 2003.

Priyanka Chopra

Actress Priyanka Chopra has added multiple feathers to her hat. She has a successful career in Hollywood post her stint with the American TV series Quantico and Hollywood film Baywatch. She has also been shuttling between both Bollywood and Hollywood with a diverse range of projects. Because of her global reach, the actress was chosen as one of the jury members at the Toronto Film Festival in 2016.

Amitabh Bachchan

The actor of the millennium, an actor who’s acting ability cannot be defined. A priceless possession of Indian Cinema, Amitabh Bachchan fondly addressed as Big B is the only actor who has never stopped working onscreen. The man still continues to dance and act and manages to do it better than his co-actors. So it doesn’t come as a surprise that Mr Amitabh Bachchan was honoured to be one of the juries at Cannes Film Festivals in the year 2013; the same year he presented his only Hollywood flick The Great Gatsby.

Anurag Kashyap

The man with the Midas touch has his presence felt in almost all departments of filmmaking. Anurag has been a director, producer, writer, actor, editor and the list continues. He recently directed Anand L Rai’s ambitious projects Manmarziyan starring Abhishek Bachchan, Taapsee Pannu and Vicky Kaushal. Most of Anurag’s films initially their path into the majority of the film festivals before it gets released commercially. Owing to his strong connect on international film festivals scene he was honoured to be a part of the jury at the 20^th Busan International Film Festival in the year 2015.

Vidya Balan

Vidya Balan after portraying the strong character in woman-centric roles has created a niche for herself in Bollywood. Having started her journey from popular TV serial Hum Paanch to her next to a biopic on NTR has explored all the verticals of the acting process. Being a versatile actresses Vidya  Balan was honoured to be on the jury at the 66^th Cannes Film Festival in 2013.

Richa Chadha

Actress Richa Chadha has come a long way from doing a cameo in her first film Oye Lucky Lucky Oye and now playing the titular role for the film on the life of the south sensation and adult star Shakeela Khan. The multi-talented actress does not shy from trying out multiple verticals in the entertainment industry. She recently turned as a producer and director with a short film, recorded her first music single with Dr Zeus, and is also in the process of writing a book. Richa has the honour of being part of the elite jury list in two of the film festivals. In the year 2015, she was the jury member at the Marrakech Film Festival in Morocco and in 2016 she attended Nara International Film Festival in Japan as the jury member.

Nandita Das

Nandita Das is a name to reckon with for some of the finest work she has done both in India and in the West. She created a furore with Deepa Mehta’s Fire in 1996 by going bald for the role. Her excellent contribution to cinema was one of the reasons she became a jury member at Cannes in 2007. This year she headed back there with her film, Manto that received a fantastic response. She is awaiting the commercial release of this Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Rasika Dugal film of the famous Sadat Hasan Manto.

Ali Fazal

The suave actor Ali Fazal after impressing with his acting chops in last year’s Hollywood flick Victoria & Abdul by playing the titular role is all set to take Bollywood by storm with multiple releases this year. Farhan Akhtar and Ali Fazal released the first look of most awaited video on demand series Mirzapur slated to release this year on Amazon Prime plus he is currently busy shooting for his two most ambitious projects Prassthanam and Milan Talkies. Between all of this Ali has also been chosen as the Jury member of the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne 2018. He will be attending the festival in August this year and will be judging the short film competition section.