Nobody tells you about the heat.

Everyone who has been to Cannes talks about the Palais, the parties, the rosé, the sea. They tell you about the Lions. They don't tell you that the French Riviera in June is merciless! A bright, relentless sun that bounces off the Croisette and finds you even in the shade, that turns every outdoor conversation into a slow, pleasant bake. By day two, I summoned my experiences of Kolkata and Mumbai heatwaves, let out a deep breath and embraced the sun as a friend. The heat is a part of the deal. If you want to be at the centre of the world's most important creative festival, you sweat a little. Fair enough.

This is my first Cannes Lions. I came here as a producer, as the founder of The Unicorn Films, carrying with me the film Band Baaja Bitiya for Goel TMT, that had over the past few months done something I hadn't quite expected. It had travelled. It had won the inaugural Piyush Pandey Polaris Award at Good Ads Matter as well as multiple Gold, Silver and Bronze metals, swept categories at the Goafest ABBY Awards, Kyoorius and sparked conversations in places we never imagined when we were on set with Gajraj Rao and Prosit Roy.

The film didn't make the Cannes Film Craft shortlist this year, which was the only category we had entered for and that stings a little, the way honest disappointments do. But I am already thinking about Glass Lion, Social Change, Film. Next year. How the case film needs to be crafted. The work deserves it, and now I know what arena I'm walking into next year.

But first, this year.

Cannes the town is quite simply one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. The old port with its bobbing yachts, the limestone sweep of the hills behind, the pale pink and cream buildings that line the seafront. The Croisette, that famous boulevard, is part catwalk, part office, part carnival. You walk it and you pass delegations, deal-makers, directors, agency heads and the occasional person just trying to find a decent espresso before the day truly begins. The sea glitters to your left. The hotels to the right — the Martinez, the Carlton, the Majestic; rise like monuments to a certain golden era of things. At night, the whole thing turns soft and cinematic, the lights catching the water, the murmur of a thousand conversations spilling out from terraces. It's beautiful in the way that makes you feel grateful and a little guilty for being here, because you know, not everyone gets to come. The sun sets really late here around this time of the year and only post 9pm will you see the shimmer of grey and dark blue in the skies. That’s when the weather becomes a better friend.

India, as it turns out, is very much here. This year, fourteen Indian jurors are shaping what the world calls great. Walking the corridors and café terraces of the Palais, you run into them. You run into the heads of Ogilvy, TBWA\ Lintas, FCB, Famous Innovations, Enormous, The Womb, Leo, Tribes and VML and every other network and independent agency that has shaped Indian advertising over the last three decades. There is a peculiar electricity to these encounters. People you have seen in trade magazines or on award stages become real, available, accessible — because Cannes has a way of flattening hierarchies that would otherwise take years to navigate.

I had meetings I had only dreamed of. I sat across from Ashish Khazanchi, Navin Talreja, Neville Shah, Russell Barrett, Raj Kamble, Raj Deepak Das and had the kind of honest conversations that simply don't happen over email or across the distance between Mumbai and wherever the global head of something happens to be sitting. That is perhaps the thing no one tells you about Cannes when they're talking about Lions. The Lions matter. But so does the face-to-face half-hour conversation over semi-decent festival coffee opens something up. At least it starts a conversation to be carried forward.

And then there was Subhajit.

Subhajit Mukherjee is one of India's finest music composers in advertising and now the longer format. This year, he is sitting on the Entertainment Lions for Music jury at Cannes, helping decide what the world's best sonic creativity looks like. He is also my childhood buddy. We grew up together and now here we both are on the French Riviera with him as a juror and me as a first-timer wide-eyed at the whole spectacle. There is something almost comic about it — the two of us, kids from Kolkata, finding each other in the crowd at the Palais de Festivals. We grabbed a walk down the old town and the conversation was the kind that only happens when you've known someone since before either of you knew what you wanted to be. He told me about the jury room. I told him about the sting of not making the shortlist. He told me what the jury actually looks for. It was honestly, worth more than any masterclass.

That's what I keep coming back to in my first week here. Cannes Lions is sold as an awards festival. And it is! The Lions are real, the competition is fierce and when your country picks up a metal, the pride is genuine. The speakers this year are extraordinary. Oprah Winfrey receiving the Cannes LionHeart Award. Marc Pritchard of P&G’s session was precise. Demis Hassabis of Google DeepMind. Stella McCartney. Susan Credle receiving the Lion of St Mark for lifetime achievement. Everywhere you turn, there is someone saying something worth hearing about where creativity is going. And the buzz is that AI technology won't replace the humaneness of the work. The tech is real and here to stay and can only help us better and optimise the efficiency, but finally it is down to one thing - Make work that matters.

I came to Cannes for the first time not knowing quite what to expect. I am leaving knowing that we will be back — with more work, more ambition and the right categories ticked. Film, Glass, Social Change. The Unicorn Films has a voice in this conversation. Band Baaja Bitiya proved that a steel brand from Raipur could stop the Indian advertising industry in its tracks at Goafest, Good Ads Matter and Kyoorius. I believe it can say something here too.

Next year, the Lions. This year, the lessons.

And honestly, the view from the Croisette at sunset is something else entirely.

P.S.: There is a rain forecast for tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

The author is the founder of The Unicorn Films.