Assam's Gayatri Sharma shines as Kanu Behl-directorial "Agra" premiers at Cannes 2023

May 26,2023

Actor Gayatri Sharma from Assam captivated the audience at the Cannes Film Festival with her outstanding performance in the Kanu Behl-directorial movie "Agra". The film "Agra," takes viewers on a journey through a person's sexual odyssey by digging deeply into the worlds of desire and male sexual restriction.

Taking to Instagram, Gayatri wrote, "Agra gets five min long standing ovation at Cannes.Happy to be a part of team Agra and this amazing project".

Gayatri's versatility goes beyond regional projects as she has made noteworthy cameos in films like Santwana Bordoloi's "Maj Rati Keteki" and the most recent "Ki Kowa Dosti" by Kenny Basumotary. Gayatri plays the part of Babita in "Agra," adding her extraordinary talents to the film's compelling story.

It needs mention here that the global premiere of the Hindi film Agra by Kanu Behl took place on Wednesday (May 24) during Directors' Fortnight at the 76th Cannes Film Festival. A 5-minute standing ovation was given to the movie, which is the only Indian feature chosen for Directors' Fortnight this year. Co-writer and director Kanu, performers Priyanka Bose and Mohit Agarwal, and producers Siddharth Anand Kumar, Sahil Sharma, and William Jehannin all attended the premiere.

Agra’s synopsis states, “Guru (25), a sexually repressed young boy, lives in a small house in Agra. He sleeps in the same room as his mother, and on the upper floor his father lives with a mistress. In an already tiny house, the only available space is the terrace on the upper floor. Guru insists that he loves Mala, an imaginary girl, and will marry her and live with her in a room on the terrace just like his father does with his mistress.”

After the premiere, Kanu Behl shared, “It was overwhelming to see a story that took me on a very personal journey, received with such love and warmth on the global stage. Agra reflects a very specific milieu but the story it tells about the politics of sexual repression and the tangled skeins of desire, is universal and that’s what the audiences responded to.

I feel truly rewarded that the film’s journey has begun on such an uplifting note. To see it being celebrated in the prestigious Director’s Fortnight at Cannes gives me hope that it will open the way for difficult conversations about things we don’t address in our homes".