CANNES, FRANCE – MAY 17: Anasuya Sengupta attends ‘The Shameless’ photocall during the 77th annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals in Cannes, France on May 17, 2024. | Photo Credit: Andreas Rentz
Anasuya Sengupta, one of the lead stars of Bulgarian director Konstantin Bozanov’s Hindi-language film shamelesshas created history by winning 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 actor to win the top acting honour in the category, marking a significant milestone for India at the prestigious film festival, which will conclude on Saturday.
In his acceptance speech on Friday night, Sengupta dedicated the award “to the gay community and other marginalised communities” who have bravely fought for their rights across the world.
The actor added, “You don’t need to be gay to fight for equality, you don’t need to be colonised to know that colonisation is miserable – we just need to be very decent human beings.”
CANNES, FRANCE – MAY 24: Boris Lozhkin, Abou Sangaré, Louise Courvoisier, Tawfik Alzaidi, Vicky Krieps, Todd McCarthy, Xavier Dolan, Maimouna Doucouré, Asme El Moudir, Guan Hu, Liang Jing, Eddie Lee, Anasuya Sengupta, Abdullah Al-Sadhan, Roberto Minervini, Maria Bahrawi and Bandar Alabdussalam pose onstage during the Un Certain Regard closing ceremony at the 77th annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals on May 24, 2024 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images) | Photo Credit: Cindy Ord
shamelessPremiering at Cannes on May 17, it delves into a dark, disturbing world of exploitation and misery in which two sex workers, one bearing the scars of her work, the other a young girl just days away from ritual initiation, form a bond and seek to break their shackles. Sengupta plays the lead character of Renuka, who escapes 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.
shameless It also stars Mita Vashisht, Tanmay Dhanania, Rohit Kokate and Auroshikha Dey in pivotal roles.
British-Indian filmmaker Sandhya Suri Satisfaction He was also a part of Un Certain Regard but did not win any awards.
‘Un Certain Regard’, which runs parallel to the festival’s main competition, aims to highlight new trends, new avenues and new countries in cinema.
This section received the top award black Dog Chinese filmmaker Gao Zhen’s film “L’Histoire de Solemain” won the Jury Prize, while French director Boris Lozhkin’s film “L’Histoire de Solemain” won the Jury Prize.
Abu Sangre History of Souleiman He won the Best Actor award for his performance in the film.
The Best Director trophy was shared by Roberto Minervini. Damned And for Rungano Nyoni On becoming a guinea fowl.
Saudi Arabia’s Tawfik Alzaidi received a Special Mention for his debut feature film “Nora” and the Youth Award went to Louise Courvoisier for her debut film. Holy cow.
The jury for Un Certain Regard was chaired by Canadian filmmaker Xavier Dolan and also included French-Senegalese director Maimouna Doucouré, Moroccan director Asmé El Moudir, German-Luxembourgish actor Vicky Krieps and American writer Todd McCarthy.
