Mumbai, Oct 22
Actress Anasuya Sengupta, who became the first Indian to win the Un Certain Regard Best Actress award for "The Shameless" at the 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival, has spoken about how Indian films are being pushed to bigger platforms such as the Academy Awards.
The actress on the NDTV World Summit went on to discuss the divisions diminishing between mainstream and non-mainstream cinema.
Anasuya said: "There are big platforms. Even seeing the kind of films that are being discussed for the Academy. There was a Malayalam film in the talk. It is a matter of great pride to see because Indian cinema does transcend just Bollywood; it is so much more than that."
"So, I think it is about time and it is happening to see films all over the country being pushed to these bigger and bigger platforms."
Talking about the lines blurring between mainstream and non-mainstream cinema, she said at the NDTV World Summit: "I personally feel that we are moving steadily towards a time when a lot of these divisions are blurring and it is a great time to thrive in the sense that art is art cinema cinema and there I believe there is room for all kinds of it."
"There is the mainstream, non mainstream but everything is kind of coming closer and to take it to a global stage..."
Anasuya's film "Shameless", which is directed by Konstantin Bojanov, centres around Renuka's illicit love affair with a teenager named Devika, played by Omara Shetty, who's initially sheltered from entering sex work because of her physical ailments, but not for long.
"To take an independent cinema from India to a stage like that was a moment of deep deep pride because it is difficult to get some of this cinema to take off and do well. It is really this dedication," said the actress about the film.
What was it like winning the Un Certain Regard Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival?
The actress shared: "Really beyond anything I had anticipated and a moment of deep deep pride on a global stage alongside extremely talented people from the fraternity as well. It was a fabulous year for our country at Cannes. I believe with amazing films and projects which all of us have worked long and hard to mount with so much dedication and perseverance. So it was a moment. It feels like it's finally bearing fruit... The Grand Prix (won by filmmaker Payal Kapadia) came after 30 years... and the Best Actress first time ever. Amazing really."