Actor Anasuya Sengupta makes history at Cannes! Becomes first Indian to win acting award

New Delhi, India

What a historic moment! Actor Anasuya Sengupta has made history, by becoming the first Indian to win an acting award at the Cannes Film Festival.

On Friday (May 24), she won the Best Actress award for her performance in the movie The Shameless at the Un Certain Regard segment of the prestigious festival.

Receiving the award, a "shaking" Anasuya dedicated it to "the queer community and other marginalised communities for so bravely fighting a fight they really shouldn't have to".

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She said in an emotional tone, “You don’t have to be queer to fight for equality, you don’t have be colonised to know that colonising is pathetic — we just need to be very, very decent human beings.” The entire venue erupted in cheer after her short acceptance speech. 

Directed by Bulgarian filmmaker Constantin Bojanov, in the movie, Anasuya plays the role of Renuka, a sex worker from southern India. She seeks refuge in a sex workers' community in northern India after being charged with the murder of a policeman. At the brothel, she falls in love with another sex worker named Devika, played by Omara Shetty.

The film's official synopsis reads, ''In the dead of night, Renuka escapes from a Delhi brothel after stabbing a policeman to death. She takes refuge in a community of sex workers in northern India, where she meets Devika, a young girl condemned to a life of prostitution. Their bond develops into a forbidden romance. Together, they embark on a perilous journey to escape the law and forge their path to freedom.''

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The movie also features actress Mita Vashist.

Who is Anasuya Sengupta?

Anasuya is a production designer in Mumbai and has worked in shows like Masaba Masaba and Srijit Mukherjee's Forget Me Not in Satyajit Ray anthology. Both are Netflix projects. Hailing from Kolkata, she's a graduate of Jadavpur University.