Watch: Sunny Leone in tears, hugs Anurag Kashyap as Kennedy gets 7-minute standing ovation at Cannes 2023

Sunny Leone was left in tears after her film Kennedy received a 7-minute long standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival 2023. Sunny hugged Anurag Kashyap and other crew members as all got emotional at the warm response.

Hyderabad:Kennedy, directed by Anurag Kashyap, premiered at the 76th Cannes Film Festival, where it garnered a seven-minute standing ovation from the audience in the Grand Lumiere Theatre. The festival's YouTube channel uploaded a video from the venue of the premiere of Kennedy. As the audience applauded, the film's actors, Rahul Bhat and Sunny Leone, got emotional, while Anurag had the largest smile on his face.

Everyone in attendance was thanked by the crew for the warm reception. Meanwhile, Sunny reassured Anurag, "You did it," and added, "Yeah, I'm not crying." The squad then hugged and congratulated one another.

Following the grand reception, Anurag approached filmmaker Sudhir Mishra, who was also present in the audience and touched his feet. The two then shared a warm hug. For the unversed, Kennedy was inspired by a story Sudhir had told Anurag many years before.

Attendees at Cannes 2023 uploaded a lot of images and videos from the event on social media. Kennedy stars Rahul in the titular role of a homicidal ex-cop, which Anurag had originally written for Ponniyin Selvan fame Chiyaan Vikram.

During a recent interaction, the Gangs of Wasseypur director informed a media portal that the film is named Kennedy after Vikram, but because he couldn't contact the actor, he put Rahul in the part. Although Vikram later stated that he did contact the director afterwards, after learning about Anurag's interest in casting him. However, the film was only a month away from shooting at the time and everything was set. Rahul later informed the publication that if he ever sees Vikram, he will thank him for not responding to Anurag on time.