BY TANUSHREE GHOSH
May 28, 2024
Malayalam actress Kani Kusruti, a lead in Payal Kapadia’s ‘All We Imagine As Light’, which won the Grand Prix, a first for India, walked the Palais steps at 77th Cannes Film Festival with a eye-grabbing beaded watermelon clutch
When asked about the clutch, the actress said it’s “both personal and political”
‘Personal is political’ is a political slogan used as a rallying cry since the late 1960s student-activist and Second Wave Feminism movements
A sliced watermelon has red, green, black, and white colours — the hues of the Palestine flag. It is a 'Free Palestine' protest symbol. While Indian celebrities are tight-lipped on Israel's war on Gaza, Kani Kusruti made her statement of solidarity on the global stage with her clutch
“I wanted something in the shape of Gaza. I collaborated with my friend who is a designer to figure out whether it would be embroidery or a brooch in the same colours. And then we hit upon the idea of the clutch,” Kani Kusruti said
The clutch has been designed by Kani Kusruti's friend and Kochi-based designer Diya John
The use of the watermelon as a Palestinian symbol, by some accounts, first emerged after the Six-Day War in 1967, when Israel seized control of the West Bank and Gaza, and annexed East Jerusalem
During the Six-Day War in 1967, the Israeli government made public displays of the Palestinian flag a criminal offense in Gaza and the West Bank
“I have many Palestinian friends. And we keep hearing of the conflict in the region. So, for me, expressing solidarity was important,” Kani said, adding that at grand festivals like Cannes political statements are rare. Kani further said that Payal Kapadia's filmmaking process was “inclusive and democratic”
Kani Kusruti was joined by Cate Blanchett, Bella Hadid, Laura Blajman-Kadar and Leila Bekhti in making pro-Palestine statements on the Cannes red carpet this year