By Arti Das
Anasuya Sengupta, the first Indian to win the Best Actress Award in the Un Certain Regard category at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival for the film ‘The Shameless’, states that this award is special as it feels like a collective win and not hers alone. She said, “There is a collective feeling of being happy. My accomplishment feels like it is theirs and it is really not my accomplishment. It just feels collective, almost a team win.”
Anansuya was speaking about her success and the 15-year-long journey in cinema during an interactive session of MOG Sunday with Skitter Faia at Museum of Goa, Pilerne. She stated that when the Bulgarian filmmaker Konstantin Bojanov approached her through social media for the role of a commercial sex worker who is on the run, she was apprehensive about it at first. But, when she read the script in the first sitting, there was no looking back.
This is Anasuya’s second film as she made her debut in Bengali film, ‘Madly Banglee,’ around 15 years ago during her theatre days in Kolkata. However, she had plans to become a journalist but then she got a chance to work as a director’s assistant for an Australian film. This gave her the confidence to move to Mumbai and she started working as an assistant director and production designer for over a decade. “I grew up in Kolkata and then moved to Bombay (Mumbai) because I wanted to act. But I didn’t obsessively push also,” stated Anasuya.
Speaking about her role in ‘The Shameless’, she mentioned doing enough research by reading and watching documentaries. For her, this role felt nothing short of an honour. “As an artist and as a woman, I often found dignity in missing and that’s what I wanted to do with my character. Before being a sex worker or a queer character she is a character. I wanted to approach her as a human being first.”
She said that there was also a sense of responsibility as the stories of such people are trauma-driven. But she wanted to portray the character of Renuka more than that. She is a strong
and powerful character despite being a victim of terrible circumstances. “At a deeper level, I tried to become her. Her love for freedom and revolutionary spirit speaks to me,” said Anasuya, who also wanted to show her tenderness through her strong and angry character.
Anasuya who studied Literature at Jadavpur University mentioned that the atmosphere at the University shaped her artistic endeavour. She likes to describe herself as a multi-disciplinary artist as she is involved in theatre, production design, illustration, and also writing.
After spending a decade in production design, she felt a burnout and moved to Goa, around four years ago. She then started illustrating. “I believe one art form always informs the other. Even when I was drawing, my writing started surfacing a little bit.” Speaking about Goa she expressed that she wanted to experiment with a different way of living amidst the community of like-minded people. She described moving to Goa as “magical.”
She also commented that she thrives in collaborations. She gave example of her work as a production designer as it involved working with carpenters, painters, electricians and craftsmen. She learned about hard work, love, and dedication from them as there is neither recognition nor great money for their work.
When asked if she has received more acting opportunities after the award, she maintained that phase is beginning to roll out now. She also hopes that this award will help in giving space and scope for independent films like ‘The Shameless’. “It’s a constant fight for independent cinema like the director Konstantin Bojanov spent 10 years to mount this film. I hope it changes with this award because there is no dearth of talent from our country in independent space.”