India is having a great run at the 77th Cannes Film Festival. With Payal Kapadia’s ‘All We Imagine As Light’ being a strong contender at the competition, Indian fans are having high hopes. But there is already some news to celebrate. Indian actress Anasuya Sengupta has won the Best actress award at the Un Certain Regard segment of the Cannes Film Festival. She has created history as the first Indian to win a top acting award at Cannes.
She got the award for Bulgarian director Constantin Bojanov’s film ‘The Shameless’. The movie has been shot in India and Nepal and tells the story of Renuka, a vagabond who is charged with a murder in Delhi and is fleeing for life. She takes refuge in the community of some Northern Indian sex workers. Renuka, played by Sengupta, falls in love with another girl named Devika there.
Anasuya Sengupta got a huge round of applause when she received her award. With an emotional message, she dedicated the award to “the queer community and other marginalised communities for so bravely fighting a fight they really didn’t have to.”
It is indeed a time for celebration for Indians that an Indian is getting such a prestigious award. Apart from herself, two short films from India too got great positions at the competition. The two films ‘Sunflowers Were the First Ones to Know’ and ‘Bunnyhood’ got the first and third position at La Cinef Selection at Cannes.