Anasuya Sengupta creates history, becomes first Indian to win Best Actress at Cannes

NEW DELHI, MAY 25: Actor Anasuya Sengupta has become the first Indian to win the Best Actress award at the Un Certain Regard segment of the Cannes Film Festival. She received the award for her role in the film ‘Shameless,’ directed by Bulgarian filmmaker Constantin Bojanov. The film portrays the journey of a sex worker who escapes from a brothel in Delhi after stabbing a policeman.

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.” In her acceptance speech, Variety quoted her as saying, “You don’t have to be queer to fight for equality, you don’t have to be colonised to understand that colonising is pathetic — 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).”

Anasuya is recognised primarily for her work as a production designer in Mumbai and currently resides in Goa. She contributed to the set design of the Netflix show ‘Masaba Masaba.’ Originally from Kolkata, she pursued her education at Jadavpur University. She made her acting debut in Bengali director Anjan Dutt’s rock musical Madly Bangalee (2009). In 2009, Anasuya moved to Mumbai, where her brother, Abhishek Sengupta, was working in films. However, she couldn’t find acting gigs for herself in the city and hence moved towards the art department of films.

Meanwhile, the Cannes Un Certain Regard Prize was awarded to ‘Black Dog,’ directed by Chinese filmmaker Hu Guan, while Boris Lojkine’s asylum-seeker narrative, ‘The Story Of Souleymane,’ received the Jury Prize.

Here is the complete list of winners in the Un Certain Regard segment:

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.

-The India Today