Anasuya Sengupta, first Indian to clinch top acting award at Cannes 2024 returns home

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 at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. Sengupta, who hails from Kolkata, is the first Indian artist to win the category’s top acting honour, marking a significant milestone for India at the prestigious film gala. The actor returned to India and spoke to the media about her experience. 

Anasuya Sengupta returns home

Cannes 2024 Best Actress in the Un Certain Regard category returned home on Sunday. The actor spoke to ANI and said that It feels great to be there at Cannes and win something. “I just want to go back to the family and take a rest for 2 days. I will be back after that. I want to thank everyone who supported and believed in me,” said the actor.

Anasuya Sengupta’s acceptance speech at Cannes 2024

For the unversed, the Film Festival will conclude on Saturday, May 25. 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 around the world. “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.

About the film

The Shameless, which had its premiere at Cannes on May 17 showcases the story of the 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 Shameless also stars Mita Vashisht, Tanmay Dhanania, Rohit Kokate and Auroshikha Dey in key roles. British-Indian filmmaker Sandhya Suri’s Santosh was also part of the Un Certain Regard but didn’t win any awards.

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