A crime drama set in Northern India, Santosh had a strong debut at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year. Sandhya Suri’s film deals with gender discrimination and police corruption across India through her main protagonist, the eponymous Santosh, played with aplomb by Shahana Goswami.
After her husband dies in the line of duty, Santosh is offered an opportunity to take his place as a female police constable, allowing her to retain her funded housing and status. Soon after she starts, the corruption at the heart of the local police force is on full display. But once a young girl shows up dead, she can’t force herself to remain apathetic anymore. The force assigns experienced investigator Sharma (Sunita Rajwar) to the case., Her bullish techniques and handling of superiors fascinates Santosh. Inserting herself onto Sharma’s team, Santosh’s obsession with the case makes her easily manipulatable, a fact she may not discover until it’s too late.
By the time we see Santosh tracking a suspect through a series of seedy back streets and dingy motels all by herself, with no backup anywhere near, we as the audience know that she is in far too deep. But Shahana Goswami fills Santosh with such earnest determination that the audience remains fully along for the ride. Director Suri pulls no punches when it comes to showing the festering heart of corruption that beats at the heart of the system, which consistently proves to put Santosh in harm’s way.
- Rated: NR
- Genre: Corruption, Crime Drama, Thriller
- Release Date: 9/10/2024
- Directed by: Sandhya Suri
- Starring: Arbaz Khan, Nawal Shukla, Pratibha Awasthy, Sanjay Bishnoi, Shahana Goswami, Shashi Beniwal, Sunita Rajwar
- Produced by: Alan McAlex, Balthazar De Ganay, James Bowsher, Mike Goodridge
- Written by: Sandhya Suri
- Studio: BBC Film, Good Chaos, Razor Film Porduktion
