Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
At the Nilaya Monsoon Film Festival, Sneha Menon Desai sits down with Anasuya Sengupta, the first Indian actor to win Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival, for a conversation about a career that arrived fifteen years later than she once hoped. Sengupta talks about coming to Mumbai at twenty-one to become an actor, running into rejection and reductive labels, and quietly building a life as a production designer instead. She recalls watching actors her own age on set and wondering whether she could have done that, and describes how the longing eventually gave way to genuine love for the craft she had at hand. She also revisits the morning of The Shameless premiere at Cannes, the decision to extend her stay on borrowed funds, and the award that followed on the second-last day.
The conversation moves through what it means to begin again in mid-life. Sengupta explains why a decade behind the camera made a film set feel like home rather than an intimidating place, why she built a private backstory for Renuka that she refuses to share, and how leaving Mumbai for Goa let her hear her own voice again. She speaks candidly about The Shameless still being unreleased in India, the pride she found presenting it to audiences in Switzerland, and why she believes shame is a burden taught to us with freedom waiting on the other side. She also discusses The Peasant, A24's first film in India, written and directed by Dev Patel, and the disbelief that still hits her when she walks onto a set. Watch the full conversation from the Nilaya Monsoon Film Festival.
00:00 Introduction
06:15 Coming to Mumbai to act
11:00 What production design taught her
16:12 Why she left Bombay behind
20:18 Building Renuka's backstory
26:06 How life changed after Cannes
30:10 Why we fear changing identities
34:45 The Peasant with Dev Patel
40:40 Working with A24 versus indie scale
46:41 On shame and freedom
51:01 Why film isn't a pure actor's medium
#AnasuyaSengupta #TheShameless #THRIndia
At the Nilaya Monsoon Film Festival, Sneha Menon Desai sits down with Anasuya Sengupta, the first Indian actor to win Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival, for a conversation about a career that arrived fifteen years later than she once hoped. Sengupta talks about coming to Mumbai at twenty-one to become an actor, running into rejection and reductive labels, and quietly building a life as a production designer instead. She recalls watching actors her own age on set and wondering whether she could have done that, and describes how the longing eventually gave way to genuine love for the craft she had at hand. She also revisits the morning of The Shameless premiere at Cannes, the decision to extend her stay on borrowed funds, and the award that followed on the second-last day.
The conversation moves through what it means to begin again in mid-life. Sengupta explains why a decade behind the camera made a film set feel like home rather than an intimidating place, why she built a private backstory for Renuka that she refuses to share, and how leaving Mumbai for Goa let her hear her own voice again. She speaks candidly about The Shameless still being unreleased in India, the pride she found presenting it to audiences in Switzerland, and why she believes shame is a burden taught to us with freedom waiting on the other side. She also discusses The Peasant, A24's first film in India, written and directed by Dev Patel, and the disbelief that still hits her when she walks onto a set. Watch the full conversation from the Nilaya Monsoon Film Festival.
00:00 Introduction
06:15 Coming to Mumbai to act
11:00 What production design taught her
16:12 Why she left Bombay behind
20:18 Building Renuka's backstory
26:06 How life changed after Cannes
30:10 Why we fear changing identities
34:45 The Peasant with Dev Patel
40:40 Working with A24 versus indie scale
46:41 On shame and freedom
51:01 Why film isn't a pure actor's medium
#AnasuyaSengupta #TheShameless #THRIndia
