This Oscar-shortlisted Bollywood film banned in India: ‘Censor asking for so much…’

Actor Sunita Rajwar has expressed disappointment over her film Santosh not getting released in India, even though it has received international praise. Directed by Sandhya Suri, the film is the UK’s official entry to the 2025 Oscars.

However, it couldn’t be released in India due to issues with getting a censor certificate. The actor, who played one of the two women officers in the movie, said her role in the movie is one of her best works. “I’m sad because I have a very different role in it, it’s a good role, it’s a big role. Every artist wants everyone to see their best work. We expect that if people see our work, then you will be offered either that role of that calibre or a different kind of role.

“We all want the audience should at least get to see it (the film) and see what we’ve done in it. It is banned. They (makers) are trying, but they (censor board) are asking for so many edits that it’s not possible,” Rajwar, who will next be seen in the Prime Video series, Panchayat 4, told PTI in an interview.

Santosh, an international co-production set in rural north India, follows the story of Shahana Goswami as a driven young Hindu widow who inherits her husband’s job as a police constable thanks to a government scheme.

She finds herself caught up in institutional corruption even as she warms to working with rough-edged veteran detective Inspector Sharma (Rajwar) on a brutal murder case involving a teenage girl from the lower caste Dalit community.

(With inputs from PTI)