The Golden Soirée, hosted by Rishabh Tongya and Chopard Co-President Caroline Scheufele, emerged as a party with a purpose, raising over €410,000 for international charitable causes while highlighting the growing convergence of luxury, philanthropy and India’s global influence.
Cannes has always been more than a film festival. Every May, the Croisette draws together cinema, capital, culture and influence in a way that few events in the world can match. India’s relationship with Cannes has mirrored its own ambitions, beginning with film, and steadily expanding into business, luxury and now, philanthropy. The country’s most interesting representatives at this year’s festival were not only on the red carpet.
The Golden Soirée was a case in point. Held on the rooftop of the iconic Hôtel Martinez, the evening brought together guests from across cinema, luxury, business and international philanthropy. What set it apart was not the guest list or the Badshah performance or the Bollywood-inspired creative direction though all three delivered. It was the insistence that generosity sit at the centre of the experience.
The charity auction raised over €410,000 across five lots, with every euro directed to organisations working in healthcare, disaster relief, sustainability and mobility. Among the beneficiaries was Jaipur Foot- one of India’s most quietly remarkable humanitarian institutions, which has restored movement and dignity to millions through its prosthetic programmes. Seeing Jaipur Foot on an international stage, supported by a Cannes audience, is itself a meaningful data point about how Indian social impact is travelling.
On being asked about his vision for India’s presence at Cannes, Rishabh Tongya said, “Cannes has always been the world’s stage for the stories that matter. For me, bringing India here, its culture, its generosity, its ambition — is not about spectacle. It is about showing the world the India we know: one that celebrates beautifully and gives unconditionally.”
That story is part of something broader. A generation of Indian entrepreneurs is now engaging with global platforms not just for visibility, but as active participants, bringing their networks, their values and their philanthropic commitments with them. Tongya’s role as Chopard’s India Chapter partner, and his co-hosting of this evening alongside Caroline Scheufele for a second consecutive year, reflects precisely this shift. The relationship is not ceremonial. It is built on shared conviction, that luxury and responsibility are not opposites, and that culture is one of the most powerful vehicles for both.
The evening’s Indian identity was worn with confidence rather than nostalgia. Chefs flown in from India, a Bollywood-inspired dress code, and Badshah on stage — these were not concessions to sentiment. They were deliberate signals about contemporary India: globally connected, culturally assured, and entirely comfortable in rooms where the world’s most discerning audiences gather.
For luxury houses, this matters. India is no longer simply a high-growth market to court it is increasingly a source of cultural influence, entrepreneurial credibility and meaningful partnerships. The deepening investment that maisons like Chopard are making in Indian relationships reflects a genuine recalibration of how the country is perceived internationally.
As Cannes itself evolves expanding well beyond its cinematic origins into a broader forum for ideas, commerce and culture, India’s footprint is growing with it. The shift is visible not in press releases, but in the rooms where decisions are made and relationships are built. Tongya’s Golden Soirée is precisely the kind of initiative that earns India a place in those rooms not through loudness, but through the quality of what it brings.
India’s international story is being written by its artists, yes. But also, increasingly, by a new cohort of business leaders who understand that culture is capital, that generosity builds reputation, and that showing up consistently with purpose, with partners of standing, and with something real to offer is how lasting influence is made.
At Cannes 2026, that story had a rooftop, a golden dress code, and a charity auction that left no one in any doubt about whose moment this was.
