Anasuya Sengupta is the first Indian actor to win the Best Actress Award in the ‘Un Certain Regard’ category of the 2024 Cannes Film Festival for her lead role in the movie ‘The Shameless’ (2024).
Directed by Bulgarian artist and filmmaker Konstantin Bojanov, the film revolves around Renuka who after killing a police officer in Delhi takes refuge in northern India as a sex worker, where she falls in love with 17-year-old Devika.
Anasuya, who currently lives in Goa, spoke about her journey and films at MOG Sundays talk at the Museum of Goa, Pilerne, at a session titled ‘From Kolkata to Cannes: Anasuya Sengupta’s Historic Win’.
Working in the film industry for almost 15 years, she had remained far behind the camera. “Some time in the middle of April 2024 is when the festival announcement came through and I was ecstatic with just that — to go to a festival like the Cannes, with a film, having acted in a lead role. That was honestly just enough and then to have it play out like that and get the award, has been nothing short of a dream. I've not had a long spell of time to really unpack all of it, but it's been amazing,” she smiles.
As she talks about her award she gallantly says, “I know they can award the best actress only to one person. But I think that's just a technicality and it just feels like a really big collective, almost a team win.”
It would make you wonder, how did this film come together. In her past interviews she said that when Bojanov reached out to her, through common friends on Facebook, Anasuya tried to talk him out of it. But eventually he convinced her to read the script.
“Once I read the script, honestly, there was no second guessing it. I read it in one sitting. I completely fell in love with the character. Something called out very strongly and I knew I had to do it.”
Like any other 21-year-old, Anasuya was very chilled out as a person when she first came to Mumbai. “I grew up in Kolkata and then I moved to Mumbai straight after university to act. I came to Mumbai with an understanding that this is something I'm interested in, but there's other things I want to learn. I was almost 21 then and I just wanted to see where life would take me.”
Anasuya grew up in a very liberal Bengali home, where her family was not into art of any kind – her father was a surgeon, and her mother, a teacher.
So, what made her ask the director not to cast her in the role of Renuka? Anasuya was quick to reply, “When Konstantin came to me with this script, after potentially about 15 years from when I initially wanted to act, it completely took me by surprise, and that's why I was trying to convince him that it's a faulty decision on his part. But thankfully I read the script and once I did it, I don't know how (I decided) it's quite surreal."
Once I read the script, honestly, there was no second guessing it. I read it in one sitting. I completely fell in love with the character. Something called out very strongly and I knew I had to do it.Anasuya Sengupta, actor
It felt so unreal that it took her to the time, many years ago, when she had come to Mumbai. “My belief is that if it has to happen, it will someday. But I didn't know it would be 15 years on,” she laughs, as she smiles for the shutterbugs to click her photos and walks out of the studio with grace.