Just days after Kiran Rao’s directorial “Laapataa Ladies” was chosen as India’s official entry for the Oscars, another Hindi film has secured the same honor, but from another country.
Sandhya Suri’s hard-hitting police procedural drama “Santosh” has been selected by the UK as their official entry for the Best International Feature Film category at the 2025 Oscars.
The film was selected by BAFTA, the organization appointed by the American Academy to choose the UK’s submission.
Santosh stars Indian actresses Shahana Goswami and Sunita Rajwar in the lead roles. The film had its world premiere in the Un Certain Regard section at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
The film is produced by Mike Goodridge, James Bowsher, Balthazar de Ganay, and Alan McAlex. Executive producers are Ama Ampadu, Eva Yates, Diarmid Scrimshaw, Lucia Haslauer, and Martin Gerhard.
UK routinely selects non-English language films for Oscars as it is a requirement for the Best International Feature Film at the Oscars.
Sandhya Suri is a British-Indian filmmaker. She has previously received praise for her documentary ‘I for India’ released in 2005 and ‘Around India with a Movie Camera’ released in 2018.
The film is an investigative thriller. The story of the film is based on a village in North India and is about a newly widowed Santosh who inherits her late husband’s job as a police constable and becomes embroiled in the investigation of a young girl’s murder.
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Santosh will now compete with Laapataa Ladies along with dozens of other films from around the world for a chance at the nomination.
The final nominations, which will include five films, will be announced in January 2025 by the Academy.
