The Shameless became highly recognizable after its Cannes 2024 victory. The film’s leading star Anasuya Sengupta made history and became the first Indian actor to win the Best Actress Award at Cannes. The film explores the story of two polar women stuck in the world of prostitution finding hope in each other, but the bleakness and grim reality of the world is always just around the corner to take it away. The film though dramatic and dark has much appreciative theatrical performances with wit of Sengupta’s abrasive character. Devi and Renuka keep the story balanced but the outcome is left for the audience to endure.
The film begins with Anasuya Sengupta’s character Renuka on the run after having killed a police officer. Renu is a Muslim woman sold at an early age and thrusted into the life of a sex worker without consent, but she stays as that’s all she had every known, that’s all she can earn money from dispite not being into men. But after killing the police officer she looks at it as a chance to never go back. And yet, after running away to a new city that is the only way she can earn any more money. There she meets Devi, though in the same world polar opposite of her, what brings them close is attraction and love.
Devi comes from a different world of sex workers, her grandmother is a revered holy woman but Devi and her sister have been subjected to eventual religiously-inspired devadasi sex work. The two have nothing to look forward to except each other. With time running out for Renuka, Devi finds the courage to take matters into her own hands and aid the escape from police for the both for the both of them. However, it’s not enough, the grim reality around them continues to pull them back down.
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The film comments on a lot of things, including the patriarchal society the result of even a slight rebellion, the political unrest, familial complications, religious and class tension but the focus remains the illicit relationship between Renuka and Devi. While there is not societal hate towards them, shame about their union is constant every time there is third person in the frame. The first half of the film doesn’t drop its guard, brining in more urgency to their situation however, the end leaves it incomplete.
Written and directed by Bojanov, the film often uses hallucinations and visions and more to show Devi’s mental state. Despites its dramatic implications on the film and its character, the audience does not get an actual explanation about it. Meanwhile, the screenplay also focuses on the violent men in the story, not a single woman though fierce and unforgiving seems in control. Even Sengupta’s Renuka who has lived in the patriarchal society but never bowed down to it, gets to only men for her benefit at her expense. It isn’t exactly a win.
Sengupta and Shetty as Renu and Devi have great chemistry. They also have immense presence in each frame. Without Sengupta, the frame feels empty while without Devi the world feels too grim. Renuka’s raw and uncensored behaviour and dialogues is what keeps the audience hooked and in shock. But it is her performance that is bound to have the audience in awe long after they have left the theatre.
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Overall, The Shameless is not an easy watch. The violence and hate towards women isn’t justified but embossed into the characters and story without hope, which leaves the audience with little to look forward to but to be thrusted into their world like Renu and Devi.
Cover artwork by Patrick Gawande/Mashable India
