New Delhi, June 2 -- Nearly four decades after its release, John Abraham's landmark Malayalam film Amma Ariyan (1986) received a standing ovation at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival, where it was selected as the only Indian film in the prestigious Cannes Classics section.

A pioneering figure of India's parallel cinema movement and a protege of the legendary Ritwik Ghatak, John Abraham directed only four feature films before his untimely death. Yet his influence on Indian cinema far exceeds the size of his filmography.

Blending documentary realism with a non-linear narrative, Amma Ariyan follows a young man carrying news of a friend's death across Kerala. What begins as a journey gradually unfolds into a profound meditation on grief, memory...