Acclaimed movie Santosh to stream on Lionsgate Play

Filmmaker Sandhya Suri’s Santosh, a police procedural thriller that bumped into hassle with the censor board and missed its theatrical launch in January, will lastly attain Indian audiences with its digital premiere on Lionsgate Play on October 17.

Starring Shahana Goswami within the titular function alongside Sunita Rajwar of Panchayat fame, the Indo-British manufacturing had its world premiere at Cannes Films Festival in 2024 beneath the Un Certain Regard class and earned crucial reward for its unflinching portrayal of caste, gender and energy dynamics.

The movie was later chosen because the United Kingdom’s official entry for the Best International Feature Film class on the 2025 Oscars.

Santosh traces the journey of Santosh, a younger widow who inherits her late husband’s job within the police division by compassionate appointment.

“What begins as a symbolic placement quickly turns into a reckoning when she is assigned to the investigation of a Dalit teenager’s rape and murder. Partnered with Inspector Sharma (Rajwar), Santosh is forced to navigate a landscape where evidence is buried under prejudice, power shields perpetrators, and the law bends in the direction of those who write it,” reads the official plotline.

Produced by Good Chaos, Cinefrance Studios and MetFilm Production, Santosh was initially slated for a launch in Indian theatres on January 10. However, the plan was stalled following a standoff with the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC).

Reports advised that disagreements between the filmmakers and the CBFC over proposed edits delayed the discharge.

At the time, a CBFC member informed PTI it was “a traditional case of gross disagreement”, with the producers insisting on no cuts whereas the board sought sure modifications.

Suri, a British-Indian filmmaker, informed The Guardian newspaper in an interview that the censor board had demanded radical cuts so prolonged and wide-ranging that they’d be unattainable to implement.

Goswami, identified for her performances in films and exhibits akin to Rock On!!, Gali Guleiyan and Bombay Begums, referred to as Santosh a movie that’s near her coronary heart.

“A beautifully written story, depicted truthfully, holding up a mirror to us of the world we live in, that we have all helped create. Sandhya Suri, the writer and director, has crafted something so meaningful and touching. The film has been shown all over the world, starting its journey at the Cannes Film Festival in 2024, and has been greatly appreciated by critics and the public alike,” the actor mentioned in a press release.

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All the actors in Santosh are good, she added, whereas notably praising Rajwar for delivering an impressive efficiency in a deeply advanced function.

“It was a joy working with her and watching her become Geeta Sharma. You will see her in a completely new avatar. I cannot wait for everyone in India to finally be able to watch the film,” Goswami added.