''Santosh'' is a 2024

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of North India, northern, Central India, centr ...

-language

crime drama Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

film written and directed by

Sandhya Suri Sandhya may refer to: Hinduism * Another name of Saranyu, goddess of clouds List of people with the given name Sandhya *B. Sandhya (born 1963), Inspector General of Kerala Police in India *Sandhya Agarwal (born 1963), former captain of the India ...

. It is an international co-production of the United Kingdom, India, Germany and France. Set in rural north India, it stars

Shahana Goswami Shahana Goswami is an Indian actress. She is the daughter of Indian economist and writer Omkar Goswami. Career Through her theater circle Goswami met talent consultant Shaanu Sharma who asked her to audition for a role in Naseeruddin Shah's ...

as a widow who inherits her late husband's job of police constable. The film had its world premiere in the ''

Un Certain Regard (, meaning 'a certain glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob. The section presents 20 films ...

'' section of the

77th Cannes Film Festival The 77th annual Cannes Film Festival is an upcoming film festival due to take place from 14 to 25 May 2024. American filmmaker and actress Greta Gerwig Greta Celeste Gerwig (; born August 4, 1983) is an American actress, screenwriter, and d ...

on 20 May 2024, where it received positive reviews from critics. It was named one of the top 5 international films of 2024 by the

National Board of Review The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures is a non-profit organization of New York City area film enthusiasts. Its awards, which are announced in early December, are considered an early harbinger of the film awards season that culminat ...

, and was nominated at the 78th BAFTA Awards for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer. It was also selected as the UK's entry for

Best International Feature Film The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to ...

at the

97th Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment in ...

, making the December shortlist.

Plot

The film follows a 28-year-old widow who takes her late husband's job as a police officer and has to investigate the case of a young girl's murder.

Cast

as Santosh Saini *

Sunita Rajwar Sunita Chand Rajwar is an Indian film, television and stage actress who graduated from the National School of Drama (NSD), New Delhi in 1997. She acted in Sanjay Khanduri's directorial debut ''Ek Chalis Ki Last Local'' as the gangster Chakli, ...

as Geeta Sharma *Sanjay Bishnoi as Beniwal *Kushal Dubey as Vikram *Nawal Shukla as Thakur *Pratibha Awasthi as Priya

Production

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as a ...

occurred over 45 days in August–October 2023 in and around

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and divisio ...

, India.

Release

The film premiered at the

in May 2024. It was also selected for the

MAMI Mumbai Film Festival 2024 The MAMI Mumbai Film Festival 2024 took place between 19 and 24 October 2024 in Mumbai, India. It was the first edition of the festival under interim festival director Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, following the departure of Anupama Chopra from the ...

, where it was part of the South Asia Competition section. In December 2024,

PVR Inox Pictures PVR Inox Pictures (formerly PVR Pictures) is the film distribution arm of PVR INOX, which also owns PVR Cinemas and INOX Leisure, two of the largest multiplex companies in India. PVR Pictures was renamed as PVR INOX Pictures post the completio ...

acquired Indian distribution rights to the film from mk2 Films, scheduling it for a theatrical release on 10 January 2025. However, the film's Indian release was indefinitely delayed after failing to obtain certification clearance from the

Central Board of Film Certification The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) is a statutory film-certification body in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of the Government of India. It is tasked with "regulating the public exhibition of films under the provision ...

. In March 2025, Indian film censors blocked the film's release outright, supposedly over concerns of its depictions of Islamophobia, casteism, misogyny and police brutality, and demanded that cuts be made to the film to tone down any content deemed offensive. The director called the ban on the film in India "heartbreaking".

Reception

Accolades

Notes

References

External links

* * {{British submissions for the Academy Award Indian crime drama films Indian police films Films about police officers German crime thriller films 2020s Indian films Films about the caste system in India BBC Film films British Film Institute films