Two days after Laapataa Ladies was selected as India’s official entry for the Oscars, another Hindi film has earned that honour, but from another country. Sandhya Suri’s hard-hitting police procedural drama Santosh has been selected by the UK as their official entry in the race for the Best International Feature Film at the 2025 Oscars. 

Deadine reported that the film was was selected by BAFTA, the organization appointed by the American Academy to choose the UK’s submission. Santosh stars Shahana Goswami and Sunita Rajwar in the lead roles and it premiered Un Certain Regard at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

How was Santosh selected from the UK

Santosh became eligible for selection in the UK as it had a wide release there and was backed by British producers. 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. The film is produced by Good Chaos, with co-producers Razor Film and Haut et Court, and is financed by BFI and BBC Film. UK routinely selects non-English language films for Oscars as it is a requirement for the Best International Feature Film at the Oscars.

All about Santosh

Written and directed by Suri, the film is an investigative thriller. Its synopsis reads: “In rural Northern India, newly widowed Santosh inherits her late husband’s job as a police constable and becomes embroiled in the investigation of a young girl’s murder.”

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.

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