Santosh

Director: Sandhya Suri

2024 / 120min / DCP

When her police constable husband is killed on the job, young housewife Santosh (Shahana Goswami) is, due to a government initiative, trained to take his place on the force in rural Northern India, eventually pairing with a savvy, charismatic female inspector, Sharma (Sunita Rajwar), who’s arrived from outside the department to investigate the murder of a low-caste girl. A gripping neorealist procedural and a patiently observed, complex character study of women working in the pressure cooker environment of a corrupt, machismo-plagued workplace, Suri’s narrative feature debut—which premiered in the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival—combines cool-headed directorial control and a palpable sense of fiery outrage. A Metrograph Pictures release.