Short Synopsis
Newly widowed Santosh inherits her husband’s job as a police constable in the rural badlands of Northern India. When a low caste girl is found raped and murdered, she is pulled into the investigation under the wing of charismatic feminist inspector Sharma.
In this crime story an ordinary woman moves from housewife to policewoman in one of the nation’s most corrupt forces. As she investigates, she begins to experiment with her newly found power within a web of misogyny, casteism and prejudice.
Director
Sandhya Suri is a BAFTA-nominated British-Indian writer and director based in London. The shooting of her debut film SANTOSH was completed in India in autumn 2023. The film will celebrate its world premiere in 2024 in the Official Selection of the Cannes Film Festival – Un Certain Regard.
SANTOSH participated as a project in both the Sundance Screenwriters Programme and the Sundance Directors Lab and was produced by Razor Film, Good Chaos and Haut et Court with support from ZDF/ARTE, BBC Film, BFI and the CNC.
Sandhya has recently written an episode of the new television series BRADERI, produced by House Productions for the BBC. The series has been developed by Riz Ahmed and Simon Beaufoy, with Simon Beaufoy acting as showrunner and Riz Ahmed taking the lead role.
She is also involved in THE CONSTANT GARDENER for Ink Factory, which Lydia Adetunji will showrun and Shannon Murphy will direct. She is also developing the original series GOA FREAKS with Balthazar de Ganay’s Lionfish Films.
Sandhya’s first short fiction film THE FIELD won Best International Short Film at TIFF in 2018 and was nominated for a BAFTA for Best Short Film in 2019. Her documentary I FOR INDIA premiered in the World Cinema Competition section of the Sundance Film Festival, screened at over 20 international festivals and won multiple awards before being released to critical acclaim in the UK and US cinemas.
Screen International chose her as Star of Tomorrow 2023.
Credits
Cast:
Shahanna Goswam
Sunita Rajwar
Production:
Good Chaos, Haut et Court, Razor Film
In collaboration with:
BFI, BBC Film and ZDF/ARTE with support of the CNC
Press & Sales
Sales Company
Festival & Awards
World Premiere:
Cannes Film Festival 2024 – Official Selection – Un Certain Regard