Aditi Rao Hydari Recreates Her Viral Gajagamini Walk From Heeramandi At Cannes Film Festival 2024

Aditi Rao Hydari was among the few Indian celebrities who walked the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival this year. The actress arrived at the French Riviera on May 22 for the 77th edition of the festival. She is basking in the success of Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar and channelled her inner Bibbojaan in foreign lands. A video of the same is now doing rounds on social media. 

Aditi Rao Hydari channels her new Bibbojaan

On May 22, as soon as she arrived at the Cannes Film Festival, Aditi Rao Hydari took to her Instagram account to share photos and videos from her first look at the event. She opted for a black and yellow halter neck gown for her first look at the gala. However, what caught the attention of social media users was a video she shared on her social media account. 

The actress shared a video of herself making her way to the French Riveria. She recreated her popular Gajagmini walk from Heeramandi while the song Saiyaan Hat Jao played in the background. Captioning the video, she wrote, “Walking into Cannes like (sun emoji, cloud emoji).” 

What is the Gajagamini walk? 

Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Heeramandi premiered on Netflix on May 1, impressing audiences with its portrayal of cultural heritage through dance, costumes, and music. Among the standout moments is Aditi Rao Hydari’s stunning Gaja Gamini walk, now known as the Swan Walk, which has become a sensation on social media.’

The Kamasutra associates elephants with "unrestrained raw sexual power," considering female elephants or hastinis to be the most lustful and vulgar in their demeanour. The Gaja Gamini walk is also referenced in the Mahabharata, where queens like Draupadi were described as Mada-gaja-gamini, indicating women who walked like cow-elephants in a rut. In essence, this walk symbolises a large, voluptuous, yet graceful woman, inspired by the swaying hips of an elephant, and has been a muse for various artists and poets, including MF Husain.