New Delhi, May 26 (PTI) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday congratulated Indian winners at this year's Cannes Film Festival -- filmmaker Payal Kapadia winning the Grand Prix award and Anasuya Sengupta for her best actress win.

"Indian stars shining bright at the 77th Cannes Film Festival! Congratulations to Payal Kapadia and the entire team of 'All We Imagine As Light' for clinching the prestigious Grand Prix award," he said in a post on X.

Also Read | Tamil Nadu Shocker: Teen Murders 10-Year-Old Boy For Speaking Ill of Mother at School in Madurai.

"Kudos to Anasuya Sengupta for winning the Best Actress award under the Un Certain Regard section for her performance in 'The Shameless'," Gandhi said.

"These women have scripted history, and inspired the entire Indian film fraternity," the former Congress chief said.

Also Read | Kerala Shocker: Tribal Woman From Kannur District Files Complaint After Husband, Middleman Force Her To Sell Kidney.

The 77th edition of Cannes, which concluded on Saturday, was undoubtedly the best year for the country which found space at the fest through eight Indian, or India-themed, films.

'All We Imagine As Light' is the first Indian film in 30 years and the first ever by an Indian female director to be showcased in the main competition.

The Malayalam-Hindi feature starring Kani Kusruti, Divya Prabha and Chhaya Kadam, revolves around three women in Mumbai who go on a road trip to a beach town.

Kapadia, an alumna of the Film & Television Institute of India (FTII), scripted history by becoming the first Indian filmmaker to win the Grand Prix award -- the second-most prestigious award at the film festival after the Palme d'Or, which went to American director Sean Baker's movie 'Anora'.

"Sunflowers Were the First Ones to Know" by FTII student Chidananda S Naik won the La Cinef first prize (film school fiction or animated films) and was another feather in FTII's cap.

Production designer Sengupta, who starred in a key role in Bulgarian director Konstantin Bojanov's "The Shameless", became the first Indian to win the best actress prize in the Un Certain Regard category.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)