First blocked by theatres, now by OTT: 'Santosh' director Sandhya Suri still hopes for legitimate screening

Serious, open-minded cineastes eagerly awaited the release of Sandhya Suri's critically acclaimed Santosh on the big screen earlier this year, but were informed that the film isn't likely to see the light of day due to censorship woes. Recently, the announcement of its Oct. 17 streaming premiere on the Lionsgate Play platform meant one thing: No major OTT platforms from India were willing to take it up, due to its evidently controversial subject matter. However, even Lionsgate Play, which is an add-on subscription on Prime Video, has reportedly acted strangely and halted its release at the last minute.

In an interaction with Deadline, Suri called it "a real shame," adding, "The objections I had to cuts for the theatrical release remain my objections for a streaming release. The streamers don’t need, by law, to have censorship status to show films. But perhaps this is about an environment in which streamers take on certain objections of their own accord for a harmonious universe.”

Interestingly, the film has been doing the rounds on pirated channels for a while. Suri, who hopes for legitimate screening of the uncut version of the film in India, is aware of this because she has been receiving feedback from many people. “It was announced and now we’re un-announcing, so a lot more people are going to watch it in some other form,” she added.

Inspired by a real-life incident

Santosh, which was the UK’s entry for the Best International Feature category at the 97th Academy Awards, stars Shahana Goswami as a widowed police constable who gets her late husband's job, revolves around the investigation of a Dalit girl's rape and murder. Suri was reportedly inspired by the aftermath of the 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape case.

In a statement to Cannes when the film premiered there in the Un Certain Regard section last year, Suri said, "For a long time, I had been searching for a meaningful way to talk about violence against women. I was in India researching and working with various NGOs when I came across an image. There were nationwide protests following the Nirbhaya gang rape case, and this was an image from Delhi of a huge crowd of angry female protestors, faces contorted with rage, and a line of female police officers, forcing them back. One of them had such an enigmatic expression. I was fascinated by her. To explore this violence and her power within it felt exciting.”

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