Anasuya Sengupta is on cloud nine, and she has every reason to be.
She has etched her name in history by becoming the first Indian to win the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival.
The 38-year-old received the trophy in the Un Certain Regard segment for her portrayal of Renuka in the film The Shameless. The movie was written and directed by Bulgarian filmmaker Constantin Bojanov.
Anasuya told the Hindustan Times: “I couldn’t believe it was happening! But as I shakily walked to the stage and stood with artistes 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.”
She later spoke about the hard work she put in for The Shameless: “I auditioned for it, my director Constantin had reached out. It was a lead role.
“I have worked so hard for so long. It all feels worth it when I look back, and all the pieces are wonderfully coming together for me finally.”
The Shameless was screened at the 77th Cannes Film Festival on May 17. The film revolves around Renuka (played by Anasuya), who manages to escape from a Delhi brothel after killing a police officer. The movie also features Omara Shetty, Auroshikha Dey and Rohit Kokate in pivotal roles.
Born in Bengal, Anasuya studied English Literature at Jadavpur University, near Kolkata. Initially, she aspired to be a journalist, but her plans took a different direction.
She landed a supporting role in the film Madly Bengali, released in 2009. Later that year, she moved to Mumbai to pursue further opportunities in acting.
Her brother Abhishek worked in the film industry and Anasuya sought acting opportunities for herself.
Struggling to find roles, she worked in the art department of films before working as a production designer. Anasuya was actually one of the production designers for the first season of Netflix show Masaba Masaba.
In an interview with My Kolkata, Anasuya said: “As a production designer in Mumbai, the projects I hold the closest to my heart include Sanjeev Sharma’s Saat Uchakkey (2016), starring the likes of Manoj Bajpayee and Anupam Kher, and Srijit Mukherji’s Forget Me Not, starring Ali Fazal as part of the Netflix anthology Ray (2021).”
Although it seemed like all was going well for Anasuya, there was a time she felt lost and claustrophobic.
“All through my years in Mumbai, although connected to the world of art in some form or the other, a part of me felt lost, claustrophobic, almost devoid of free expression,” Anasuya told My Kolkata.
This made her take a leap of faith and shift to Goa with support from her father. “I was unaware of how financially sustainable the decision was or where my career curve would meander. However, amid the chaos, it was my father who held my hand and asked, ‘what’s the worst that can happen?’ And that sealed the deal.”
Currently, she resides in North Goa with her male actor friend Tanmay Dhanania, who is also from Kolkata.
Tanmay accompanied her to Cannes, and they both shared an emotional post on their social media accounts, which read: “Two people from a city called Calcutta live in a house called Thomsuli in a village called Marna in Goa.
“They have been friends for half their lives and have a cat called Mowgli. These two people are in a town called Cannes with a film called The Shameless. Some things are unbelievable. And some things are inevitable. Oddly enough, this is both.”
