Santosh (2024 film)

Santosh
Indian theatrical release poster with original release date
Directed bySandhya Suri
Written bySandhya Suri
Produced by
  • Mike Goodridge
  • James Bowsher
  • Balthazar de Ganay
  • Alan McAlex
Starring
CinematographyLennert Hillege
Edited byMaxime Pozzi-Garcia
Music byLuisa Gerstein
Production
companies
Distributed byCivic Studios
Vertigo Releasing (United Kingdom and Ireland)
PVR Inox Pictures (India)
Haut et Court (France)
Release dates
  • 20 May 2024 (2024-05-20) (Cannes)
  • 17 July 2024 (2024-07-17) (France)
  • 21 March 2025 (2025-03-21) (United Kingdom)
Running time
120 minutes
Countries
  • United Kingdom
  • India
  • Germany
  • France
LanguageHindi
Budget$2.5 million
Box office$1.3 million

Santosh is a 2024 Hindi-language police procedural crime drama film written and directed by Sandhya Suri. It is an international co-production of the United Kingdom, India, Germany, and France. Set in rural north India, it stars Shahana Goswami as a widow who inherits her late husband's job of police constable and is involved in the investigation of the murder and rape of a Dalit teenager.

The film was intended to be a documentary on sexual abuse in India, but the director decided to create a film after seeing an image of female demonstrators spitting on a female constable in a protest on 2012 Delhi gang rape and murder. Filming lasted from August to October 2023 in Lucknow, India. The film had its world premiere in the Un Certain Regard section of the 77th Cannes Film Festival on 20 May 2024, where it received positive reviews from critics. It was named one of the top 5 international films of 2024 by the National Board of Review, and was nominated at the 78th BAFTA Awards for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer. It was also selected as the UK's entry for Best International Feature Film at the 97th Academy Awards, making the December shortlist.