Anasuya Sengupta becomes first Indian to win Best Actress at Cannes

India's unknown actress Anasuya Sengupta, who hails from Kolkata, won Un Certain Regard Prize for Best Actress for her performance in The Shameless. The film, directed and written by Bulgarian filmmaker Konstantin Bojanov, revolves around Renuka, played by Anasuya, who escapes from a Delhi brothel after killing a police officer. The film also stars Omara Shetty, the love interest of Renuka.Anasuya, with her win, has created history by becoming the first Indian to win the award.The film portrays the journey of a sex worker who escapes from a brothel in Delhi after stabbing a policeman.Anasuya dedicated her award "to the queer community and other marginalised communities around the world for bravely fighting a battle they shouldn't have to fight." In her acceptance speech, Variety quoted her as saying, "You don’t have to be queer to fight for equality, you don’t have to be colonised to understand that colonising is pathetic — we just need to be very, very decent human beings."
Anasuya is recognised primarily for her work as a production designer in Mumbai and currently resides in Goa. She contributed to the set design of the Netflix show 'Masaba Masaba.' Originally from Kolkata, she pursued her education at Jadavpur University. She made her acting debut in Bengali director Anjan Dutt's rock musical Madly Bangalee (2009). In 2009, Anasuya moved to Mumbai, where her brother, Abhishek Sengupta, was working in films. However, she couldn't find acting gigs for herself in the city and hence moved towards the art department of films.