British-Indian film director and documentarian Sandhya Suri’s film Santosh has been selected by the British Academy as the UK’s submission for the Oscars’ International Feature Film category. The film marks Sandhya’s directorial feature film debut, with her also credited as the writer. Shot in Hindi, Santosh had its world premiere in the Un Certain Regard section at the 77th Cannes Film Festival earlier this year. The film stars Shahana Goswami in the lead role, with Sunita Rajwar playing a pivotal part. Sanjay Bishnoi, Kushal Dubey, and others also feature in the cast.
Set in rural North India, Santosh follows the story of a 28-year-old widow who becomes a constable after the death of her husband. Her life takes a drastic turn when she is recruited by a charismatic feminist inspector to investigate the murder of an underage girl from a lower caste.
In an earlier chat The Indian Express at Cannes, Shahana Goswami was asked about the film’s release in India given its themes. The actor said that she was hopeful and shared, “Films like these will always have a niche release because that is the nature of the business. But it would be heartbreaking if it didn’t, because we have made a film to be watched. As with other films which are subversive, you can hold up a mirror without pointing fingers at anyone. But I’m hopeful, the humanity of it might help it come out…”
Sandhya Suri is best known for her documentaries ”I for India’ (2005) and ‘Around India with a Movie Camera’ (2018). The film’s music is composed by Luisa Gerstein, with cinematography by Lennert Hillege. Maxime Pozzi-Garcia handled the editing. Santosh was produced by James Bowsher, Balthazar de Ganay, Mike Goodridge, and Alan McAlex, with executive producers Ama Ampadu, Martin Gerhard, Lucia Haslauer, Diarmid Scrimshaw, and Eva Yates. The film was co-financed by Good Chaos, Razor Film Produktion, Haut et Court, BBC Film, and BFI.
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Meanwhile, India has chosen Kiran Rao’s Laapataa Ladies as its entry for the Oscars’ Best International Feature Film category. Produced by Aamir Khan, Laapata Ladies stars Nitanshi Goel, Pratibha Ranta, Sparsh Shrivastav, and Ravi Kishan in the lead roles.
