Anasuya Sengupta creates history at Cannes, becomes 1st Indian to win Un Certain Regard best actress
Cannes, May 25: Anasuya Sengupta, one of the lead stars of Bulgarian director Konstantin Bojanov's Hindi-language movie "The Shameless", has created history by bagging the Best Actress award in the Un Certain Regard category of the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.
Sengupta, who hails from Kolkata, is the first Indian artiste to win the category's top acting honour, marking a significant milestone for India at the prestigious film gala. The festival will conclude on Saturday.
In her acceptance speech on Friday night, Sengupta dedicated the award to the "queer community and other marginalised communities" for bravely fighting for their rights all over the world.
"You don’t have to be queer to fight for equality, you don’t have to be colonised to know that colonising is pathetic — we just need to be very, very decent human beings," the actor said.
The win at Cannes is a landmark moment in Sengupta's career. She earlier played a supporting part in 2009 Bengali movie "Madly Bangalee", directed by Anjan Dutt, and worked as a production designer after shifting to Mumbai.
"The Shameless", which had its premiere at Cannes on May 17, forays into a dark, disturbing world of exploitation and misery in which two sex workers, one who bears the scars of her line of work, the other a young girl days away from ritual initiation, forge a bond and seek to throw off their shackles.
Sengupta plays the central character of Renuka, who escapes from a Delhi brothel after stabbing a policeman to death and takes refuge in a community of sex workers in northern India, where she meets Devika (Omara), a young girl condemned to a life of prostitution.
The actor celebrated her win on Instagram, where she posted pictures with Un Certain Regard jury head, Canadian director Xavier Dolan, and German-Luxembourg star Vicky Krieps.
"I won, guys, held so lovingly by my heroes. I’m here for you, to be the one you need THANK YOU @festivaldecannes," Sengupta wrote in the caption.
"The Shameless" also stars Mita Vashisht, Tanmay Dhanania, Rohit Kokate and Auroshikha Dey in key roles.
British-Indian filmmaker Sandhya Suri's "Santosh" was part of the Un Certain Regard category as well but didn't win any award.
The Un Certain Regard, which runs parallel to the festival's main competition, aims to highlight new trends, new paths and new countries of cinema.
The top prize of the segment went to "Black Dog" by Chinese filmmaker Gou Zhen, while French director Boris Lojkine's "L’Histoire de Souleymane" bagged the Jury Prize.
Abou Sangre of "L’Histoire de Souleymane" won the best actor trophy for his performance in the movie.
The best director trophy was shared by Roberto Minervini of "The Damned" and Rungano Nyoni for "On Becoming a Guinea Fowl".
Tawfik Alzaidi of Saudi Arabia received a Special Mention for his first feature film "Norah" and the Youth Award went to Louise Courvoisier for her debut movie "Holy Cow".
The Un Certain Regard jury was chaired by Dolan and included French-Senegalese director Maimouna Doucoure, Moroccan director Asmae El Moudir and American writer Todd McCarthy.
Several Indian celebrities including filmmakers Zoya Akhtar, Hansal Mehta, actors Arjun Kapoor, Radhika Apte and Adarsh Gourav congratulated Sengupta on her win.
Akhtar shared a news story about Sengupta's win on her Instagram Stories and wrote, "Congratulations."
Mehta wrote, "Congratulations on your win at Cannes 2024."
"This deserves to be celebrated along with the film," Kapoor posted.
Apte, whose film "Sister Midnight" was screened at the film gala as part of sidebar section Directors' Fortnight, said on Instagram, "Absolutely incredible."
"Historic day for India! Congratulation for the win," Gourav said on his Instagram Stories.
Cannes, May 25 (PTI) Anasuya Sengupta, one of the lead stars of Bulgarian director Konstantin Bojanov's Hindi-language movie "The Shameless", has created history by bagging the Best Actress award in the Un Certain Regard category of the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.
Sengupta, who hails from Kolkata, is the first Indian artiste to win the category's top acting honour, marking a significant milestone for India at the prestigious film gala. The festival will conclude on Saturday.
In her acceptance speech on Friday night, Sengupta dedicated the award to the "queer community and other marginalised communities" for bravely fighting for their rights all over the world.
"You don’t have to be queer to fight for equality, you don’t have to be colonised to know that colonising is pathetic — we just need to be very, very decent human beings," the actor said.
The win at Cannes is a landmark moment in Sengupta's career. She earlier played a supporting part in 2009 Bengali movie "Madly Bangalee", directed by Anjan Dutt, and worked as a production designer after shifting to Mumbai.
"The Shameless", which had its premiere at Cannes on May 17, forays into a dark, disturbing world of exploitation and misery in which two sex workers, one who bears the scars of her line of work, the other a young girl days away from ritual initiation, forge a bond and seek to throw off their shackles.
Sengupta plays the central character of Renuka, who escapes from a Delhi brothel after stabbing a policeman to death and takes refuge in a community of sex workers in northern India, where she meets Devika (Omara), a young girl condemned to a life of prostitution.
The actor celebrated her win on Instagram, where she posted pictures with Un Certain Regard jury head, Canadian director Xavier Dolan, and German-Luxembourg star Vicky Krieps.
"I won, guys, held so lovingly by my heroes. I’m here for you, to be the one you need THANK YOU @festivaldecannes," Sengupta wrote in the caption.
"The Shameless" also stars Mita Vashisht, Tanmay Dhanania, Rohit Kokate and Auroshikha Dey in key roles.
British-Indian filmmaker Sandhya Suri's "Santosh" was part of the Un Certain Regard category as well but didn't win any award.
The Un Certain Regard, which runs parallel to the festival's main competition, aims to highlight new trends, new paths and new countries of cinema.
The top prize of the segment went to "Black Dog" by Chinese filmmaker Gou Zhen, while French director Boris Lojkine's "L’Histoire de Souleymane" bagged the Jury Prize.
Abou Sangre of "L’Histoire de Souleymane" won the best actor trophy for his performance in the movie.
The best director trophy was shared by Roberto Minervini of "The Damned" and Rungano Nyoni for "On Becoming a Guinea Fowl".
Tawfik Alzaidi of Saudi Arabia received a Special Mention for his first feature film "Norah" and the Youth Award went to Louise Courvoisier for her debut movie "Holy Cow".
The Un Certain Regard jury was chaired by Dolan and included French-Senegalese director Maimouna Doucoure, Moroccan director Asmae El Moudir and American writer Todd McCarthy.
Several Indian celebrities including filmmakers Zoya Akhtar, Hansal Mehta, actors Arjun Kapoor, Radhika Apte and Adarsh Gourav congratulated Sengupta on her win.
Akhtar shared a news story about Sengupta's win on her Instagram Stories and wrote, "Congratulations."
Mehta wrote, "Congratulations on your win at Cannes 2024."
"This deserves to be celebrated along with the film," Kapoor posted.
Apte, whose film "Sister Midnight" was screened at the film gala as part of sidebar section Directors' Fortnight, said on Instagram, "Absolutely incredible."
"Historic day for India! Congratulation for the win," Gourav said on his Instagram Stories.
Cannes, May 25 (PTI) Anasuya Sengupta, one of the lead stars of Bulgarian director Konstantin Bojanov's Hindi-language movie "The Shameless", has created history by bagging the Best Actress award in the Un Certain Regard category of the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.
Sengupta, who hails from Kolkata, is the first Indian artiste to win the category's top acting honour, marking a significant milestone for India at the prestigious film gala. The festival will conclude on Saturday.
In her acceptance speech on Friday night, Sengupta dedicated the award to the "queer community and other marginalised communities" for bravely fighting for their rights all over the world.
"You don’t have to be queer to fight for equality, you don’t have to be colonised to know that colonising is pathetic — we just need to be very, very decent human beings," the actor said.
The win at Cannes is a landmark moment in Sengupta's career. She earlier played a supporting part in 2009 Bengali movie "Madly Bangalee", directed by Anjan Dutt, and worked as a production designer after shifting to Mumbai.
"The Shameless", which had its premiere at Cannes on May 17, forays into a dark, disturbing world of exploitation and misery in which two sex workers, one who bears the scars of her line of work, the other a young girl days away from ritual initiation, forge a bond and seek to throw off their shackles.
Sengupta plays the central character of Renuka, who escapes from a Delhi brothel after stabbing a policeman to death and takes refuge in a community of sex workers in northern India, where she meets Devika (Omara), a young girl condemned to a life of prostitution.
The actor celebrated her win on Instagram, where she posted pictures with Un Certain Regard jury head, Canadian director Xavier Dolan, and German-Luxembourg star Vicky Krieps.
"I won, guys, held so lovingly by my heroes. I’m here for you, to be the one you need THANK YOU @festivaldecannes," Sengupta wrote in the caption.
"The Shameless" also stars Mita Vashisht, Tanmay Dhanania, Rohit Kokate and Auroshikha Dey in key roles.
British-Indian filmmaker Sandhya Suri's "Santosh" was part of the Un Certain Regard category as well but didn't win any award.
The Un Certain Regard, which runs parallel to the festival's main competition, aims to highlight new trends, new paths and new countries of cinema.
The top prize of the segment went to "Black Dog" by Chinese filmmaker Gou Zhen, while French director Boris Lojkine's "L’Histoire de Souleymane" bagged the Jury Prize.
Abou Sangre of "L’Histoire de Souleymane" won the best actor trophy for his performance in the movie.
The best director trophy was shared by Roberto Minervini of "The Damned" and Rungano Nyoni for "On Becoming a Guinea Fowl".
Tawfik Alzaidi of Saudi Arabia received a Special Mention for his first feature film "Norah" and the Youth Award went to Louise Courvoisier for her debut movie "Holy Cow".
The Un Certain Regard jury was chaired by Dolan and included French-Senegalese director Maimouna Doucoure, Moroccan director Asmae El Moudir and American writer Todd McCarthy.
Several Indian celebrities including filmmakers Zoya Akhtar, Hansal Mehta, actors Arjun Kapoor, Radhika Apte and Adarsh Gourav congratulated Sengupta on her win.
Akhtar shared a news story about Sengupta's win on her Instagram Stories and wrote, "Congratulations."
Mehta wrote, "Congratulations on your win at Cannes 2024."
"This deserves to be celebrated along with the film," Kapoor posted.
Apte, whose film "Sister Midnight" was screened at the film gala as part of sidebar section Directors' Fortnight, said on Instagram, "Absolutely incredible."
"Historic day for India! Congratulation for the win," Gourav said on his Instagram Stories.
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London, Nov 22: A bomb disposal squad deployed as a “precaution” to the South Terminal of Gatwick Airport concluded an investigation into a "security incident" on Friday after making a “suspect package” safe.
The South Terminal of Gatwick Airport, the UK's second busiest airport after Heathrow, which was briefly shut owing to the incident reopened following the incident.
The Gatwick is around 45 km south of London.
Two people detained during the enquiries have since been allowed to continue their journey as the airport was opened.
“Police have concluded their investigation into a report of a suspect package at Gatwick Airport. Officers from the EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) team made the package safe, and the airport has been handed back to its operator,” Sussex Police said in an updated statement.
“Two people detained while enquiries were ongoing have subsequently been allowed to continue their journeys. There will remain an increased police presence in the area to assist with passengers accessing the South Terminal for onward travel,” the statement added.
Earlier on Friday, the incident caused severe disruption at the busy airport’s South Terminal, while the North Terminal of Gatwick Airport remained unaffected.
“Police were called to the South Terminal at Gatwick Airport at 8.20 am on Friday (November 22) following the discovery of a suspected prohibited item in luggage,” a Sussex Police statement said.
“To ensure the safety of the public, staff and other airport users, a security cordon has been put in place whilst the matter is dealt with. As a precaution, an EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) team is being deployed to the airport. This is causing significant disruption and some roads around the South Terminal have been closed. We’d advise the public to avoid the area where possible,” it said.
Footage on social media taken outside the airport showed crowds of frustrated travellers being moved away from the terminal building.
Gatwick said it was working hard to resolve the issue.
“A large part of the South Terminal has been evacuated as a precaution while we continue to investigate a security incident," the airport said in a social media post.
“Passengers will not be able to enter the South Terminal while this is ongoing. The safety and security of our passengers and staff remain our top priority. We are working hard to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.”
Train and bus services that serve the airport were also impacted while the police carried out their inquiries.
In an unrelated incident in south London on Friday morning, the US Embassy area in Nine Elms by the River Thames was the scene of a controlled explosion by Scotland Yard dealing with what they believe may have been a “hoax device”.
“We can confirm the 'loud bang' reported in the area a short time ago was a controlled explosion carried out by officers,” the Metropolitan Police said in a post on X.
“Initial indications are that the item was a hoax device. An investigation will now follow. Some cordons will remain in place for the time being but the majority of the police response will now be stood down,” it added.
