I don't think I ever left Kolkata

Anasuya Sengupta is still coming to terms with her historic achievement. The 37-yearold recently won the Un Certain Regard Prize for Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival for her remarkable performance in Bulgarian director Konstantin Bojanov’s The Shameless.

- NILADRY SARKAR AND SALIL BERA

In the film, Sengupta portrays the lead character of Renuka, who escapes from a Delhi brothel after killing a cop.

Sengupta is still figuring out what the honour truly means for her. One thing is certain. The sudden international fame, she says, will not change what she essentially is—a Kolkatar meye (daughter of Kolkata) whose athletic build belies the fact that she still relishes Kolkata biryani and mishti doi.

In an interview with THE WEEK, she looks back at her extraordinary journey—from playing a minor role in director Anjan Dutt’s Madly Bangalee in 2009 to the red carpet in Cannes.

Excerpts:

Q\ How do you describe your journey from Kolkata to Cannes?

A\ Growing up in a regular Bengali family in Kolkata, [I always had an] inclination for arts…. In Jadavpur University, I got active in the theatre scene. It was through [my college theatre group] Tin Can that five friends and I got cast in Madly Bangalee.

But I had started working behind the scenes as far back as 2008. I was the most junior person in the team of an Indo-Australian feature film called The Waiting City, where I had been the DA [director’s assistant]. At that point, the 21-year-old me decided that [it was] enough ammo to move to Bombay.