Santosh (2024)
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Santosh Movie Review
Santosh is a 2024 Indian crime drama film directed by Sandhya Suri and starring Shahana Goswami. This is a very technically standard, but thematically rich and important film.
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“There are two kinds of untouchables in this country –
the ones that no one wants to touch and
those that no one has the right to touch“
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A government scheme sees newly widowed Santosh inherit 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. This movie was submitted by the UK for the foreign Oscar category, but in reality this is an Indian film in its entirety. And it’s a very good, though not great one.
This is one of those movies that you watch for the subject and the performances rather than the artistic qualities of its audio-visual presentation. Yes, the film is serviceably well made, but neither the cinematography nor the score were all that memorable here. The movie is solidly edited, but it needed a quicker pace to be more engaging.
With that being said, this drama tells a very resonant story both emotionally and thematically. It depicts Indian society at its worst, but still through a very realistic glens. Issues like racism and sexism are explored, and especially the problem of the caste system, but all of these issues are dealt with in a very subtle instead of on-the-nose manner, but still being forceful enough in its tone and delivery.
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Shahana Goswami was excellent in the main role and she really is the heart and core of this picture that often forgets about other characters as it focuses extensively on her. The result is a character-driven movie in terms of the protagonist’s arc and it really worked in that area. The directing from Sandhya Suri is also quite competent and the movie benefits from terrific dialogue and a very interesting, different than usual ending.
Santosh is a powerful Indian drama that explores the issues of sexism and casteism in a forceful, but thankfully subtle way. It’s the kind of movie that is worth seeing for its strong dialogue and themes instead of technical aspects, which are all just serviceable. It’s a well acted and directed movie that is also a solid character study.
My Rating – 4
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