Santosh (2024 film)

Santosh Saini, the wife of an Indian constable who was killed during a riot, inherits her spouse's position as a constable through a government scheme called "compassionate recruitment" and is appointed to a rural town. During her duty, she overhears a Dalit man speaking about the disappearance of his 15-year-old daughter, Devika Pippal, two days earlier, after the police had previously ignored his report. They attempt to file another complaint at the police station but are mockingly disregarded.

The following day, she comes across a protest outside the police station. She sees Devika's corpse among the crowd; Devika had been raped, murdered, and dumped in a well in a Dalit village. Devika's parents, standing beside her body, demand justice from the police and declare that they will not leave unless the perpetrator is punished. Santosh and other female constables are ordered to drag the protesters away. The death and subsequent protests receive widespread media attention.

Santosh, Inspector Geeta Sharma, and other police officers arrive in the Dalit village to investigate the death. Santosh learns from Devika's parents that Devika was last seen at dawn when she went to fetch water. She finds Devika's mobile phone and reads her text messages with Saleem, who had mentioned that he was going to Mumbai, and reports her findings to Geeta that evening. Santosh visits the village chief's^[a] house, where Saleem and his father work on the chief's farm, and learns that they left several days earlier. Afterwards, she pressures one of Saleem's friends into providing information about him and learns the name of the city where he is staying. Santosh and Geeta arrest Saleem at a hotel in the city.

They report to the police commissioner's house, where the commissioner suggests that they keep Saleem near his home after a politician, Beniwal, visits him. The day after Saleem's arrest, the police beat him during interrogations at an abandoned house. Saleem admits that he knew Devika, liked her, and had obtained her mobile phone number. Unsatisfied with his answers, the officers torture and waterboard him during the interrogations. Santosh is handed a paddle and, under pressure, repeatedly beats Saleem before suffering a panic attack.

Unable to sleep afterwards, Santosh reflects on Saleem's possible death and questions whether he is innocent. Geeta responds that his innocence would not help advance the case. Santosh discreetly checks Saleem's smartphone and discovers that he was in Mumbai on the day of Devika's death, implying that he could not have murdered her. In the following days, Santosh and the police team report that Saleem died by suicide through hanging. However, Geeta privately warns Santosh that autopsy reports will eventually reveal Santosh's responsibility for Saleem's death.

Santosh visits the village chief's house and learns that Devika had gone to fetch water from the chief's well because a cat's corpse had contaminated the well in the Dalit village. While Santosh is there, Beniwal, the chief's brother-in-law, arrives. Santosh asks Beniwal whether he was aware of Devika entering the property. However, Beniwal avoids the question, and one of his friends remarks that Dalits are not allowed to fetch water from the chief's well before casually mentioning a recent party they attended. When Santosh confronts Beniwal about whether he was responsible for Devika's murder, he responds by asking what she would do if he were guilty.

Santosh meets Geeta at a restaurant and confronts her over the fact that she knew Saleem was innocent. Geeta responds that Saleem's death has brought justice and served as a warning to those who would commit rape, and that finding the real culprit would not benefit Devika's family or village. Geeta shows Santosh her suspension letter. After visiting the Pippal house, Santosh leaves her uniform in her quarters and boards an intercity train.

• Shahana Goswami as Santosh Saini^[4]
• Sunita Rajwar as Geeta Sharma^[4]
• Sanjay Bishnoi as Beniwal^[5]

The film was directed by British-Indian film director Sandhya Suri. Suri, who had worked with nongovernmental organizations in northern India, wanted to create a documentary on the context of sexual abuse against women in India as a follow-up to the 2005 documentary I for India. She eventually dropped the project as she struggled to translate her research "as a documentary form because it was just too horrific".^[6][7] However, she decided to use fiction after she saw an image of female demonstrators "almost spitting with hatred"^[8] in front of a female constable during a protest on the 2012 Delhi gang rape and murder. Suri decided to create a fiction film to narrate "what is it like to be her [the female constable] in uniform and out of uniform".^[9] She then discovered that an eligible person can inherit the job of a deceased immediate family member who died while in government service, which became a key part of the film's narrative.^[8][9] Suri consulted with police anthropologists for the script.^[9]

Principal photography occurred over 45 days from August to October 2023 in and around Lucknow, India.^[10][11] The cast is composed of both professional and nonprofessional actors. One person from the production's catering team was selected as an actor. The person who would portray the mother of the deceased girl was an observer who asked what was going on while the film crew prepared the film location at a police station.^[8] Real locations were used for the film; a scene shot in a hotel included people who were living there rather than hired extras for authenticity.^[12] The producers sent requests to Delhi's chief controller of railways to film a scene on a train at the national railway.^[11] Mumbai-based producer Suitable Producers assisted producers based in the United Kingdom in navigating shooting locations in India.^[13]

British film producer James Bowsher decided that the setting would be an unnamed city in India for its portrayal of local police.^[11] Producers decided not to apply for the Uttar Pradesh Film Subsidy to avoid filming stipulations from local authorities.^[11] While editing the film, producers debated whether to include a score to add tension in several scenes. Director Suri did not add a score.^[12]

The film premiered at the 77th Cannes Film Festival in May 2024.^[14][15] It was also selected for the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival 2024, where it was part of the South Asia Competition section.^[16] In December 2024, PVR Inox Pictures acquired Indian distribution rights to the film from mk2 Films, scheduling it for a theatrical release on 10 January 2025.^[17][18] However, the film's Indian release was indefinitely delayed after failing to obtain certification clearance from the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC).^[19] In March 2025, censors from the CBFC blocked the film's release outright, supposedly over concerns of its depictions of Islamophobia, casteism, misogyny and police brutality, and demanded that cuts be made to the film.^[20][21] The production team found the ban unexpected since the script received approval from Indian authorities for shooting for filming without issues.^[19] The director called the ban on the film in India surprising as the issues raised in the film were not "particularly new to Indian cinema or hadn’t been raised before by other films".^[22][21] The film was then pivoted to a streaming release in India on Lionsgate Play on 17 October 2025 instead, only for that release to be halted at the last minute as well.^[23][24]

• List of submissions to the 97th Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film
• List of British submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film