Samir Shukla

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By Samir Shukla

India’s massive film industry is benefiting from women writer / directors emerging in the male dominated glitz of Bollywood films, to make indie films that unravel India’s long ingrained social structures and corruption, stitching it up feminist energy. The newly released film Santosh, written and directed by Sandhya Suri, is a look into rural policing in India and self-discovery. The film was The United Kingdom’s official entry for Best International Feature Film at the 2025 Oscars among other nominations & awards.

The story revolves around Santosh Saini, portrayed by Shahana Goswami, a newly widowed domestic wife who inherits her husband’s job, a police constable, as a means to support herself. She quickly blends into her work as a rookie cop and learns the ways and maneuverings of her new profession along the way. Her mentor, Inspector Sharma, brilliantly portrayed by Sunita Rajwar, guides Santosh in the established, often haphazard, and wily ways of investigating local crimes and complaints.

Santosh must involve all her abilities, and learn on the fly, to investigate the murder of a low-caste girl in rural hinterlands of North India. She immediately encounters entrenched sexism and corruption in and around her assigned police station.

She encounters unwieldy local goons and politicians controlling the local villages as well as the teeming towns in her sphere of investigation. Inspector Sharma has been around the block and is versed in self survival. She guides, even subtly manipulates, Santosh into investigating a suspect while setting aside any initial reservations or investigation into whether he may be innocent or guilty.

Santosh questions her own moral grounding, while suppressing the anger of her husband’s murder earlier, as the investigation unfolds. The film’s slow grind creates a tense atmosphere, and the two female protagonists give solid performances. Sunita Rajwar is especially riveting, showing care for Santosh, with subtle attraction, while menacing suspects and fighting for berth and her own place in the gritty world of police investigations.