Who is Anasuya Sengupta? Cannes 2024 Best Actress winner life explored 

Anasuya Sengupta won the Un Certain Regard Prize for Best Actress at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival for her role in The Shameless. The groundbreaking Indian actress made waves as the first Indian to take home the esteemed Best Actress honor.

Anasuya's work in the movie The Shameless received a lot of praise worldwide, showing off the talent of Indian cinema on a global scale. Originally from Kolkata, her path from working as a production designer in Mumbai to becoming a successful actress highlights her hard work and adaptability in the field.

Anasuya Sengupta impressed everyone with her role as Renuka, a s*x worker looking for freedom in the movie. She won over audiences and the Cannes jury, proving her talent. Let's take a closer look at the life and successes of Anasuya Sengupta, an example of diversity and skill in the film industry.

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Anasuya Sengupta's historic win at Cannes 2024

Anasuya Sengupta was in The Shameless, a Hindi movie directed by Konstantin Bojanov from Bulgaria. Her performance was so good that the judges and the crowds loved it, leading her to this win. The movie tells the emotional story of a s*x worker who runs away from a brothel in Delhi, and Anasuya brings her character to life with passion and understanding.

The film's official synopsis, as per IMDb reads,

"After killing a cop in a Delhi brothel, Renuka takes refuge in a northern India community of sex workers. There, she begins a forbidden romance with the 17-year-old Devika. Against all odds, they try to forge their path to freedom."

British-Indian filmmaker Sandhya Suri's film Santosh was also part of the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes 2024, but it didn't win any awards. This section is meant to showcase emerging trends and filmmakers from different countries alongside the main competition at Cannes.

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Anasuya Sengupta's rise to stardom

Anasuya Sengupta's rise to becoming the first Indian actress to win a top award at the Cannes Film Festival shows just how determined and talented she is. Starting as a production designer in Mumbai, she eventually landed a breakthrough role in The Shameless, which was anything but a typical path to fame.

It all began with a random request for an audition tape from director Konstantin Bojanov on Facebook, kickstarting her Cannes journey.

Sengupta told HT City after the win,

"I couldn’t believe it was happening! But as I shakily walked to the stage and stood with artists I have admired, my heroes, it felt oddly natural to be welcomed with so much authenticity and love by them. I am so grateful to the jury for seeing my hard work."

To the overwhelming reaction to her win, she said:

"I am amazed at the love pouring in from so many back home, it makes me proud to make everyone proud. I am literally taxi-ing in the plane now on my way home to my family, I just can’t wait to be with them."

Anasuya has worked on sets for Netflix's Masaba Masaba and Srijit Mukherjee's Forget Me Not, showing her skills in the industry. In her acceptance speech, she gave a shoutout to marginalized communities, talking about the challenges they go through and why it's important to have more diversity in movies.

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If you want to catch Anasuya Sengupta's award-winning performance in The Shameless, tune in to MUBI.