Santosh (in-person & online)

Shahana Goswami, Sunita Rajwar, Nawal Shukla

A widow-turned-police officer investigates a troubling murder in British Indian filmmaker Sandhya Suri’s (I for India, Around India with a Movie Camera) fiction feature debut, screened in Un Certain Regard at Cannes in 2024.

After her constable husband is killed on the job in remote northern India, Santosh (Shahana Goswami) reluctantly assumes his role. When a teenage Dalit (low caste) girl is found murdered and a Muslim boy is suspected, igniting protests in the local community, she is pulled into the case under the command of new female superior Inspector Sharma (Sunita Rajwar), who skilfully navigates their police station’s misogynistic culture while remaining a fierce advocate against gendered violence. As the case develops, though, both women must confront their place within a corrupt (and corrupting) system, and Santosh’s personal ethics are painfully challenged by the realities of her world.

A deft thriller interrogating hierarchies of gender, caste, religion and class in rural India, with superb performances from Goswami and Rajwar, Santosh combines a complex character study with searing social critique.