EXCLUSIVE! Anasuya Sengupta on her Cannes win: ‘Art helped me in getting the role in The Shameless’ | Not Just Bollywood

In an exclusive interview with Firstpost’s Lachmi Deb Roy for ‘Not Just Bollywood’, Anasuya Sengupta talks about her Cannes Best Actress award win, being interested in art and culture from the very beginning, being cast out of Facebook and more.

 Edited excerpts from the interview:

Tell me about your Cannes win. Did you visualize that one day you are going to win the Cannes Best Actress Award?

Not at all. I was just happy being at the festival. I was initially happy that my film made it at the festival. It was a kind of reunion with all the team members of The Shameless. We filmed it in Nepal in 2023. That’s the energy I went with to the festival. There was no separate anticipation or expectation for an award. Of course, I wanted the film to do well. I did want the film to pick up an award, but I didn’t know that this would happen and that it would be this fun.

You were into art and you moved to Goa because you wanted to take a break from films. But how did The Shameless happen?

Actually, my journey in films started in 2008. I have been working in films since then. I had acted in a Bengali film by Anjan Dutta called ‘Madly Bangalee’ which was released all the way back in 2009. Also around the same time I had worked as an Assistant Director in an Indo-Australian film called The Waiting City.

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Growing up in Calcutta, I had a creative bent from the very beginning. I did my schooling in La Martinière and college at Jadavpur University in the English department. I did these projects soon after I finished my graduation and soon after that, I decided to move to Bombay whether it was acting or behind the scenes. With these projects under my belt, I wanted to explore and see what I wanted to do and where it takes me. I was interested in acting and I also realized that I was interested in a lot of other things.

I kind of let life take the lead. I was doing plays even after I moved to Bombay, I did some commercials here and there and some student films here and there. My other work also picked up and I was in the production of Deepa Mehta’s Midnight’s Children. I was working as an independent production designer for several projects and the years kind of rolled by. I used to draw as a child as well and six years ago, I started illustrating regularly and quite fiercely. I thought of it as a newer way to find my voice. I was exploring the idea that maybe a little less filmwork and more art is going to be good for me.

Finally, I decided that it was not going to be an easy decision and it was a little scary as well. That was the time when I moved to Goa from Mumbai and that is where I am living for the last four years. I wanted to discover newer facets to my work and call it a coincidence or call it a magical thing. It was around that time that Konstantin Bojanov got in touch with me and was interested in casting me as one of the leads. I was initially quite surprised and wasn’t expecting it at all because I had a full-blown career already mounted for the last many years. But the moment I read the script, it kind of called me. It reminded me of the older buried dreams of wanting to be an actor. That’s when I jumped in.

Has life changed after the Cannes win ? Since you live in Goa do people kind of spot in public places?

After the win, I have not been able to stay in any city for long. Right now I am in Calcutta. I landed in Delhi after the Cannes win, then went back to Bombay, was in Goa for a few days, and that’s been a big change. There is a lot of movement, so I didn’t get a chance to observe the change. I have been getting a lot of love. I am just going along with it. There has been a little bit of spotting here and there, which is a brand new thing for me. And I have been enjoying it.

Ever since your childhood days were you always interested in acting?

I do come from an academic background. But I was very blessed to have grown up in an environment that I did. I always found myself pushed very creatively from a very young age whether it is writing, whether it’s being a part of the school dramatic society, elocution etc. So, there has always been a keen interest in performance and arts broadly speaking. I used to draw as a child. So, I always had that push to do things beyond academics and curriculum in schools. I was encouraged deeply to develop other skills and other interests. I realized very soon in life, that I don’t particularly see myself in a nine-to-five job. I wanted a job with a little bit of freedom and mobility. That’s how I grew up into a self-employed film professional. I have never worked with any company till date. I was also influenced by my brother, who is a filmmaker and collaborated with my friends who too came from an artistic background. I am a voracious reader and a film buff.

Did art help you in getting the role?

Actually, it did and I found that out much later. In fact, my director told me after filming. I was literally cast off Facebook. I was Facebook friends with the director for a few years because of common friends. We never met, but we know each other well. I was familiar with his name because he used to almost like the art that I posted on Facebook. Then he offered me this film a few years later which completely caught me off guard. It confused me. Then I decided that I was going to do it, I thought of going with the flow and having a good time.

Only at the far end of filming, he asked me, “Do you know why I sent you a Facebook request?” He too struggled to bring out this film. He was actually interested in my art when he started considering an animated version of The Shameless. So it was actually my art which kind of helped me in getting this role. That was pretty magical!