Santosh

"Nothing is more dangerous than following orders."

2024 2h 8m FR

👍

6.9

SOLID

🔥

100%

CERTIFIED FRESH

⭐

7.2

IMDB

★6.9TMDB · 95🍅100%Rotten Tomatoes★7.2IMDB · 489

ThrillerCrimeDrama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

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.

“Nothing is more dangerous than following orders.”

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Cast

Shahana Goswami
Constable Santosh Saini
Sunita Rajwar
Inspector Sharma
Naval Shukla
Inspector Thakur
Sanjay Bishnoi
Beniwal
Shashi Beniwal
Constable Kohli
Prashant Kumar
Inspector Mundi
Pratibha Awasthi
Priya
Manjul Azad
Head Constable Yadav

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Sandhya Suri
Writers: Sandhya Suri, Shashank Acharya
Languages: Hindi
Countries: India, United Kingdom, Germany, France

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $2.5M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Earned back only 44% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 2 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 4 countries: India, United Kingdom, Germany, France.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Sandhya Suri, shot by Lennert Hillege. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Luisa Gerstein. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Maxime Pozzi-Garcia shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Shahana Goswami and Sunita Rajwar and Naval Shukla carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Sandhya Suri directs. Lennert Hillege behind the camera. Luisa Gerstein scores. Maxime Pozzi-Garcia cuts. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in India, United Kingdom, Germany, France. Dialogue in Hindi.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $2.5M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
2Earned back only 44% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
3Released 2 years ago.
4International production across 4 countries: India, United Kingdom, Germany, France.
5Directed by Sandhya Suri, shot by Lennert Hillege. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Luisa Gerstein. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Maxime Pozzi-Garcia shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Shahana Goswami and Sunita Rajwar and Naval Shukla carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "Nothing is more dangerous than following orders.".
10IMDB entry: tt30444418 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Only 95 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Cinematography: Lennert Hillege
Original score: Luisa Gerstein
Editing: Maxime Pozzi-Garcia
Production design: Devika Dave
Costume design: Bhagyashree Dattatreya Rajurkar
Makeup / hair: Soamaa Goswami
Runtime: 128 min · 2h 8m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $2,500,000
Box office: $1,097,812
Return: 44% of budget
Original language: FR
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Santosh (2024)
Rotten Tomatoes: 100% 🍅 Fresh
IMDB rating: 7.2/10 · 489 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

1 win & 2 nominations

Also by

Sandhya Suri

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2025-01-14
★ 6/10
Recently widowed and facing the loss of her home, the eponymous woman (Shahana Goswami) is offered a chance to take over her late husband's job as a police officer. Having basically inherited his post without any training, her first task is to work with the no-nonsense "Insp. Sharma" (Sunita Rajwar) on an horrific case in which a young girl has been brutally raped and unceremoniously dumped in a fairly lawless area of Northern India. Disgusted by the crime and by the societal attitudes of many of those the investigations touches - who mostly couldn't care less - we alight on a candidate for the crime and what ensues tests not just her mettle as a police officer but her own morals as the methods of interrogation employed by her new boss are not exactly court-ordered. That's the potent thrust of this film for me, and I didn't find that to sit so easily. The atrocity of the crime is symptomatic of cultural attitudes amidst a society where women are little better than chattels to be used and disposed of by men as required. The question of ethics starts to loom large, though, when the suspect is treated with a brutality that asks whether two wrongs make a right. It's a sort of vigilante justice that pays scant, if any, regard for due process and begs huge questions which are addressed quite poignantly at the very denouement of this quite harrowing and thought-provoking drama. The acting itself is all adequate enough but I thought Goswani relied too much on long pauses and silences to convey the sense of conflict faced by her character as the plot developed. She's not helped by the staccato writing that can hit some potent notes at times, but for the most part seems content to let what we are seeing do the work - and that left me feeling a little uneasy about the retributive elements of the drama. There's no doubt that it does provoke a conversation about women's rights in India and about their appalling position within a male-dominated hierarchy, but is throwing the rule of law under the police bus the answer?

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