Paoli Dam after her red carpet moment at Cannes. (Amit Roy)

At the risk of appearing biased, Paoli Dam did India proud when she walked the famous red carpet in Cannes on Tuesday night.

Breathless with excitement, she told The Telegraph as she emerged from seeing a gala film premiere: “It was great, wonderful, my dreams have come true.”

In her cream sari with a red border, she resembled a balika bodhu — very Bengali and very beautiful.

If she was breathless, the photographers were even more so.

“Princess! Princess!” they called out to her, as The Telegraph, with its usual bad timing, sought to engage her in intellectual conversation about the merits of the movie she had just seen inside the 2,300-seat Grand Lumiere — Le Havre.

It is a comedy-drama written and directed by Aki Kaurismäki, starring André Wilms, Kati Outinen, Jean-Pierre Darroussin and Blondin Miguel. It tells the story of a shoeshine man who tries to save an immigrant African child in the French port city Le Havre.

The Telegraph got shoved out of the way as the “Princess!” call did not persuade Paoli to stop long enough for the massed ranks of frenzied snappers.

“Bollywood! Bollywood!” they shouted.

Paoli laughed. “Ora khali Bollywood janey (They are only familiar with Bollywood),” she said.

On the red carpet, where the photographers have to wear the black tie for the privilege of taking pictures of the world’s biggest stars, the sight of the Bengali beauty sent them crazy.

“They made me go up and down, up and down, they had not seen anyone before in a red and white sari,” said Paoli.

And with plenty of gold jewellery round her neck, one ought to add.

The actress is in Cannes for the screening of the Bengali movie Chhatrak (Mushroom), directed by Sri Lankan Vimukthi Jayasundara, in which she has the leading role.

She concurred with The Telegraph on what would be for her a night to remember: “There are crowds in Calcutta but, no, even in Puja time, it wasn’t a bit like Shyambazar.”