Director Konstantin Bozanov, actors Omara Shetty, Tanmay Dhanania, Anasuya Sengupta, Mihir, Rohit Kokate, Kiran Bhiwagade, Auroshikha Dey and Mita Vashisht pose during a photocall for the film “The Shameless” at the 77th Un Certain Regard category competition. Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France, May 17, 2024. Reuters/Sarah Messonnier | Photo Credit: Sarah Messonnier

One of the most unusual films representing India at the 77th Cannes Film Festival, Bulgarian director Konstantin Bojanov’s Hindi-language “The Shameless” premiered at the Salle Debut here on Friday morning in the presence of the director and the two lead actresses, Anasuya Sengupta and Went. Omara.

Introducing the titles selected as part of Un Certain Regard, Christian Jeune, deputy artistic director of the festival, said: “India has a very strong presence here this year. It also includes this film from a Bulgarian director.” “It’s been a long journey. It was nothing like Coppola, but it took 12 years,” Bozanov said, referring to Francis Ford Coppola’s decades in making “Megalopolis.”

Bozanov said, “There were points when I almost gave up on the film. The completion of this project would not have been possible without my fantastic cast and crew.”

Also starring Mita Vashishtha, Tanmay Dhanania, Rohit Kokate, Anasuya Sengupta and Auroshikha Dey in lead roles, “The Shameless” delves into a dark, disturbing world of exploitation and misery about two sex workers, one who is haunted by the scars of her lineage. tolerates. Kama, the second a young girl who is days away from ritual initiation, forms a bond and wants to throw off her chains.

Bojanov, who has made countless trips to India over more than two decades, tells a universal story that is distinctly Indian.

“My intention was not to make ‘The Shameless’ a social document. I drew on abstract aspects of reality to piece the story together,” he told this writer during an interview ahead of the film’s world premiere.

Production on “The Shameless,” Bozanov said, was interrupted several times because of the COVID pandemic. Production also took time because “it took forever to finance it”.

He said that there could not have been a better place than Cannes to present the film to the world.