Anasuya Sengupta becomes first Indian to win Best Actress at Cannes
Anasuya Sengupta has become the first Indian to win Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard division. She earned the award for her performance in the film “Shameless,” directed by Bulgarian filmmaker Constantin Bojanov. The movie follows the journey of a sex worker who flees a brothel in Delhi after stabbing a cop.
Anasuya dedicated her award “to the queer community and other marginalised communities around the world for bravely fighting a battle they shouldn’t have to fight.”
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In her acceptance speech, Variety quoted her as saying, “You don’t have to be queer to fight for equality, and you don’t have to be colonized to appreciate how sad colonization is—we just need to be very, very decent human beings.”
Celebrating her victory, actor Tillotama Shome shared on Instagram, “Just beautiful!!!!!!!!! Making history. Putting us on the map!!! Unfortunately, I don’t have my glasses and can’t seem to figure out how to share this! But I can’t even begin to describe the JOY!!!! Kisses to Anasuya for me please (sic).”
List of Winners in the Un Certain Regard division
Prix Un Certain Regard: ‘Black Dog’, Guan Hu
Jury Prize: ‘The Story of Souleymane’, Boris Lojkine
Best Director (ex aequo): ‘The Damned’, Roberto Minervini; ‘On Becoming a Guinea Fowl’, Rungano Nyoni
Performance Awards: ‘The Shameless’, Anasuya Sengupta; ‘The Story of Souleymane’, Abou Sangare
Prix de la Jeunesse (Youth Prize): ‘Holy Cow! (Vingt Dieux)’, Louise Courvoisier
Special Mention: ‘Norah’,Tawfik Alzaidi
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Who is Anasuya Sengupta?
Anasuya Sengupta is an Indian actress and production designer. She has established a career in the film industry. Anasuya, who is from Kolkata, has a degree in English literature from Jadavpur University and aspired to know herself through journalism. However, life had different plans.
Anasuya, who played a supporting role in Anjan Dutta’s 2009 film Madly Bangalee, dabbled with theatre for a while before moving to Mumbai in 2013. There, she began working as a production designer.
