Recently, India sent Kiran Rao's Laapataa Ladies as its official submission for Best International Feature Film for Oscars 2025 over Grand Prix-winning All We Imagine as Light. While Payal Kapadia's movie is left out in the cold, the UK has chosen another 'Indian' movie as its official submission for Oscars 2025. The movie is Santosh, written and directed by British-Indian filmmaker Sandhya Suri, and it has Shahana Goswami (Rock On, Ra.One) in the lead. Shahana Goswami Feels It Is Important To Choose Roles That Represent Real Women!

Santosh was produced by BBC Film and BFI, along with a couple of other production companies. Interestingly, it wasn't among the Indian movies submitted to the Film Federation of India for Oscar consideration, but that didn't help All We Imagine as Light, did it?

Like with All We Imagine as Light, Santosh also had its world premiere at the 77th Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard section. However, while it received positive reviews, Santosh didn't win any awards. Instead, another 'Indian' film,  Konstantin Bojanov's The Shameless, won the Best Actress award for Anasuya Sengupta. Anasuya Sengupta Creates History at Cannes 2024! Becomes First Indian To Win Best Actor in Un Certain Regard Category for The Shameless.

The Cast and Plot of 'Santosh'

Santosh is the first fictional feature film of Sandhya Suri, who is known as a documentarian. Apart from Shahana Goswami, the movie also stars Sunita Rajwar, Shashi Beniwal, Sanjay Bishnoi and Kushal Dubey. The plot revolves around Santosh, played by Goswami, a widow who gets a job in the police department as compensation for her husband's demise while serving on duty. She is assigned to help in the investigation of the murder of a young girl, which opens a can of worms showing the rottenness of her department and the society she lives in. The movie offers a scathing depiction of caste crimes and atrocities meted out against the lower castes. Fact Check: Is Randeep Hooda’s ‘Swatantrya Veer Savarkar’ Selected As India’s Official Entry for Oscars 2025? Here’s the Truth!

Watch the Trailer of 'Santosh':

'Santosh' Reviews

Here's what the critics have been saying about the movie:

Scroll says, "The 128-minute movie is bookended by night-time sequences that create a vivid metaphor of Santosh’s journey. The device of a police procedural includes small details that linger in the memory: the uniform belonging to Santosh’s husband swinging from a washing line, making a 'kee-kee' sound; a cobbler who also helps supplicants write police complaints."

NDTV says, "Shahana Goswami delivers a performance of astounding emotional depth. She brings out the inner turmoil of the titular character, an ingenue who must find her way around in a world in the grip of corruption and exploitation, with restraint. The means she employs are measured and meaningful."

The Hollywood Reporter says, "This assured sense of direction coupled with controlled performances make Santosh a compelling drama. But it’s Suri’s screenplay that renders the film immersive. The director smartly imbues this low-key, intimate narrative with details that lay out the political reality of India. Instead of unwieldy expository dialogue, Suri relies on conversations between Santosh and Sharma to shed light on the forces — a discriminatory society, a corrupt workplace — that might drive these two women into a kind of reluctant Faustian alliance."

At the Oscars 2024, it was the UK's entry, Jonathan Glazer's The Zone of Interest, that won Best International Feature Film. Will the country do an encore with Santosh at the 97th Academy Awards? Oscars 2025 is due to take place on March 3, 2025.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 25, 2024 04:35 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).