When Kavita Pushkarna put the finishing touches to a 15-minute film she had written, she knew she was on to a winner.

The writer and producer created the film, Life is Beautiful, set in Mumbai, about a man’s day during which a series of events see him radically change his point of view.

Now the 43-year-old from South Woodford is heading to the Cannes Film Festival to strut her stuff on the red carpet – although she is doing it on crutches.

Kavita said: “I’m proud to be representing India and Britain, hopefully, we’ll get somewhere with it. We shot it in seven days on the streets of Mumbai in December but post-production took three months.”

She found out that her filmhad been shortlisted after receiving an email in March telling her to make travel arrangements. However, she missed the first screening last week after falling on set, resulting in her being on crutches. She finally made it out to France on Monday.

Kavita, of The Drive, said: “With short films you have to get your message across very quickly.

“It’s a startling film and makes people gasp at the end and that’s the message of the film, ‘I never thought that would happen’.”

She shot the film with her husband Bobby who did not expect it to do so well.

“When we showed it to colleagues and listened to the feedback,” Kavita added, “he then realised there was something there.

“It was very exciting.”

Kavita attended Park School for Girls, Park Avenue, Ilford, before studying law and working at her family’s travel agency, My Vacation, in Cranbrook Road, Gants Hill.

She later married her film director husband and the pair worked on a film called Page 3 which received three National Film Awards, which are the Indian version of the Oscars.

Life is Beautiful will be shown at Cannes until Sunday.