Hull Independent Cinema: Santosh

SANTOSH
Dir Sandhya Suri | UK, Germany, India, France | 2024 | 128 mins | Rated 15 | Hindi

Newly widowed Santosh inherits her husband’s job as a police constable in the rural badlands of Northern India. What passes for work on the “women’s desk” is mostly an excuse to collect bribes from local people. An illiterate labourer reports his daughter missing and is ignored, but when the girl’s body is found media pressure forces an investigation led by seasoned investigator Inspector Sharma. Sharma takes Santosh under her wing but it soon becomes clear that the senior officer has an ulterior motive, while the case forces Santosh to examine her own class prejudices.

Starring Shahana Goswami, Sunita Rajwar, Nawal Shukla

AWARDS AND FESTIVALS
Bafta Awards: Nominee, Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director, or Producer
BIFA: Winner, 2 Awards including Best Screenplay; Nominee, 2 Awards including Best British Independent Film
Cannes Film Festival: Nominee, Un Certain Regard Award
London Film Festival: Nominee, First Feature Competition
Jerusalem Film Festival: Winner, Best International Debut
National Board of Review: Winner, Top 5 International Films

REVIEWS
“If ‘Training Day with more grey areas’ sounds dull, it’s anything but.” ★★★★ Philip De Semlyen, Time Out

“About the methods by which the poor and oppressed are kept in their place, and about what it means to be woman among men who aren’t at all interested in sharing their power.” Alissa Wilkinson, The New York Times

“Full of non-actors who excel at being themselves in front of the camera, the result so eminently watchable because it feels so remarkably like the real India.” Proma Khosla, indieWire

“There’s a knotty complexity to the relationship between the two women, something that Rajwar mines superbly with her charismatic but unreadable performance.” Wendy Ide, Screen International