‘Santosh’ director Sandhya Suri: ‘A film that carries a feeling of care for India’

Although Sandhya Suri was born and raised in England, all her film projects have been about her ancestral country of origin. Her debut documentary I for India (2005) was based on home video footage shot by her father after he emigrated to England in the 1960s. Around India with a Movie Camera (2018) was a compilation of films made during British colonial rule.

Suri’s fictional drama Santosh takes place in a small town in north India. Shahana Goswami plays the titular character, who is given her deceased husband’s job as a police constable on compassionate grounds.

Santosh’s investigation into a Dalit teenager’s rape and murder takes the young woman on a journey towards understanding power, social hierarchy and the nature of justice. Santosh also has a momentous encounter with Geeta Sharma, a senior police officer played by Sunita Rajwar.

Suri’s feature debut was premiered in the Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard section in 2024. In a review, Scroll called the movie “a thoughtful study of power and powerlessness in Indian policing”, which “deftly personalises the manner in which gender dynamics, caste, community honour and religion skewer the pursuit of fairness”.

Santosh was United Kingdom’s entry for Best International Feature Film, and made it to the short list. The film will be released on March 21 across...

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