Anasuya Sengupta has scripted history by becoming the first Indian to win the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival. The ongoing festival commenced on May 15 at the French Riveria and will conclude on May 25. India seems to shine bright at the festival this year with several awards in the kitty and many celebrities marking their presence on the red carpet. Sengupta, however, has gone a step ahead and won the country a top honour in the competition. 

What has Anasuya Sengupta won at the Cannes Film Festival? 

Anasuya Sengupta won the Best Actress award in the Un Certain Regard segment of the Cannes Film Festival. She bagged the award for her gritty performance in the Bulgarian director Constantin Bojanov's film, The Shameless, which also features well-known actress Mita Vashist in its star cast. The film was shot over a month and a half in India and Nepal. 

The film narrates the tale of a young woman, Renuka (played by Sengupta) who runs away from a Delhi brothel after killing a cop. As per IANS, the film's story centres around Renuka's illicit love affair with a teenager named Devika, played by Omara Shetty, who's initially sheltered from entering sex work because of her physical ailments, but not for long.

Anasuya Sengupta dedicates her award to the queer community 

Upon receiving the big honour, Sengupta dedicated her award to the queer community. As per Variety, in her acceptance speech, Anasuya said, “to the queer community and other marginalised communities around the world for bravely fighting a battle they shouldn't have to fight. 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.” 

Indian film All That We Imagine As Light is also competing for the top prize - Plame D’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Directed by Payal Kapadia. The movie is the first in 30 years from India to be nominated for the top prize. Apart from this, two Indian films - Sunflowers Were the First Ones to Know and Bunnnyhood won awards in La Cinef Selection at this year’s Cannes.