The first Indian actor to bag the Best Actress award in the ‘Un Certain Regard’ category of the 2024 Cannes Film Festival for her lead role as a queer sex worker in ‘The Shameless’ (2024), Anasuya Sengupta’s achievement shines a light on the importance of humanising people who undertake sex work as a means of livelihood.
“There previously have been characterisations of commercial sex workers depicted in Indian cinema; however, as a viewer, an artist and a woman, I have found a dearth of dignity in the portrayals of these characters. In the role of ‘Renuka’, a commercial sex worker, I attempted to dignify and humanise her while telling her story,” said Sengupta, at the recent MOG Sundays talk titled ‘From Kolkata to Cannes: Anasuya Sengupta’s Historic Win’ at the Museum of Goa, Pilerne. She was in conversation with Goa-based communications professional Skitter Faia.
Directed by Bulgarian artist and filmmaker Konstantin Bojanov, ‘The Shameless’ (2024) depicts the life of sex worker Renuka, who escapes a brothel in Delhi after murdering a policeman, and eventually falls in love with another woman sex worker while taking asylum at a sex workers community.
“I fell in love with the character, greatly moved by her strength and power in the face of several terrible circumstances. My aim was to ensure that she was seen as not simply a product of the trauma she endured, but a multifaceted human being. These stories are reflections of real women, and I wanted my portrayal to showcase that,” said Sengupta, whose desire to become a journalist and tell stories that no one talks about, also played a role in her choosing the role when Bojanov reached out to her.
Due to time restrictions posed by the logistics of independent films, Sengupta was not able to prepare for the role for a longer period of time, and delve deeper into the role as much as she would have liked. So, she did the next best thing, which was to educate herself by reading copiously on the topic, watching documentaries and understanding where to situate the character of ‘Renuka’.
“The character and I come from very different backgrounds. But I found that once I started prepping for the role, I could meet her somewhere and there was a common thread to follow. I understood her love for freedom, a bit of a revolutionary spirit,” shared Sengupta.
Sengupta’s career trajectory took her from Kolkata, to Mumbai, to Goa and then Cannes. She studied Literature at Jadavpur University, Kolkata, where she was exposed to a liberal model of authority that stayed with her to date, and gave her a sense of responsibility and independence that she credits as foundational to her being today.
Sengupta is a multidisciplinary artist, having over 15 years of experience in the film industry as a production designer, director’s assistant, and actor. She moved to Goa in 2020 for a change in scenery, which is when she was contacted by Bojanov, taking up the role that would eventually propel her to international recognition at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival in France.
