Who is Anasuya Sengupta, the woman who created history by becoming 1st Indian to win best actress at Cannes Film Festival?

Anasuya Sengupta, one of the lead stars of Bulgarian director Konstantin Bojanov’s Hindi-language movie “The Shameless”, has created history by bagging the Best Actress award in the Un Certain Regard category of the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.

Sengupta, who hails from Kolkata, is the first Indian artiste to win the category’s top acting honour, marking a significant milestone for India at the prestigious film gala. The festival will conclude on Saturday.

In her acceptance speech on Friday night, Sengupta dedicated the award to the “queer community and other marginalised communities” for bravely fighting for their rights all over the world.

Anasuya Sengupta won the best actress award at Cannes 2024. She is the first Indian to do it.
The media is only busy in covering celebrities and influencers who are just flaunting their stupid dresses and also not wanted at Cannes.
If it was somebody from Bollywood or an… pic.twitter.com/x2jqNWM5KO

— Anshul Garg (@AnshulGarg1986) May 25, 2024

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“You don’t have to be queer to fight for equality, you don’t have to be colonised to know that colonising is pathetic — we just need to be very, very decent human beings,” the actor said.

The win at Cannes is a landmark moment in Sengupta’s career. She earlier played a supporting part in 2009 Bengali movie “Madly Bangalee”, directed by Anjan Dutt, and worked as a production designer after shifting to Mumbai.

“The Shameless”, which had its premiere at Cannes on May 17, forays into a dark, disturbing world of exploitation and misery in which two sex workers, one who bears the scars of her line of work, the other a young girl days away from ritual initiation, forge a bond and seek to throw off their shackles. Sengupta plays the central character of Renuka, who escapes from a Delhi brothel after stabbing a policeman to death and takes refuge in a community of sex workers in northern India, where she meets Devika (Omara), a young girl condemned to a life of prostitution.

The actor celebrated her win on Instagram, where she posted pictures with Un Certain Regard jury head, Canadian director Xavier Dolan, and German-Luxembourg star Vicky Krieps.

“I won, guys, held so lovingly by my heroes. I’m here for you, to be the one you need THANK YOU @festivaldecannes,” Sengupta wrote in the caption.

Who is Anasuya?

As per the internet, Sengupta was born in a Bengali family in Kolkata, West Bengal. She obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature from Jadavpur University, but wanted to establish herself as a journalist.

Sengupta played a supporting role in the 2009 movie Madly Bangalee, directed by Anjan Dutt. She dabbled in theater for some time before shifting to Mumbai in 2013. She started working as a production designer in Mumbai.

Several Indian celebrities including filmmakers Zoya Akhtar, Hansal Mehta, actors Arjun Kapoor, Radhika Apte and Adarsh Gourav congratulated Sengupta on her win.

Akhtar shared a news story about Sengupta’s win on her Instagram Stories and wrote, “Congratulations.” Mehta wrote, “Congratulations on your win at Cannes 2024.” “This deserves to be celebrated along with the film,” Kapoor posted.

Apte, whose film “Sister Midnight” was screened at the film gala as part of sidebar section Directors’ Fortnight, said on Instagram, “Absolutely incredible.” “Historic day for India! Congratulation for the win,” Gourav said on his Instagram Stories.