Shahana Goswami in Santosh
Laapataa Ladies, India's official submission for the 97th Academy Awards' Best International Feature Film category, has been eliminated from the race for Oscars 2025 consideration. The Kiran Rao directorial may have lost the race, but another Hindi-language film that did make it to the shortlist is the United Kingdom's submission, Santosh. What is this film about, who are the people behind it, and how has Shahana Goswami reacted to the shortlist? Here's all you need to know about the Oscars 2025 shortlisted feature film.
The Sandhya Suri-directed movie is about a Hindu widow who acquires her husband's position as a police constable through a government program. She finds herself entangled in institutional politics as she tries to work with veteran detective Inspector Sharma (Sunita Rajwar) on a brutal murder case involving a teenage girl from the lower-caste Dalit community.
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Apart from Shahana Goswami, the film also stars Sunita Rajwar, Sanjay Bishnoi, Kushal Dubey, Nawal Shukla, and Pratibha Awasthi. It has been named one of the top 5 international films of 2024 by the National Board of Review. The film had its world premiere at the 77th Cannes Film Festival on May 20, 2024.
Santosh has been selected as one of only 15 films to advance to the next round out of 85 total submissions by countries worldwide. It was sent by the United Kingdom as their official submission for the Academy Awards 2025.
While talking about this significant milestone, actor Shahana Goswami reflected on this "little glory," saying, "So happy for the team, especially our writer-director Sandhya Suri, for this little glory of recognition for our film Santosh! How incredible to be shortlisted from amongst 85 films. Thank you to everyone who loved it, supported it, and voted for it."
Though the film is eligible to compete in the category, it doesn't guarantee that it will advance to the final nominations for the Academy Awards. Voting for Oscar nominees in all 23 categories will begin on Wednesday, January 8, and conclude on Sunday, January 12. The nominations will be announced on Friday, January 17.
