Santosh to release in India after tiff with Censor Board

British-Indian filmmaker Sandhya Suri's critically acclaimed movie, Santosh, will finally release in India, after a tough battle with the Censor Board. A police procedural thriller, this movie was initially set to release on January 10 but could not move ahead with its theatrical release due to issues with the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC).

Santosh will finally be available to the Indian audience with its digital premiere set to take place on October 17, 2025, on Lionsgate Play.

Santosh will release on Lionsgate Play on October 17

Sandhya Suri's Santosh had received widespread critical acclaim and praise. The movie had its world premiere at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival under the coveted Un Certain Regard category.

An Indo-British production, United Kingdom chose Santosh as their official film entry for the Best International Feature Film category at the 2025 Academy Awards.

Despite the praise the film received from around the world, it was reported that the filmmakers and the Censor Board of India had some disagreements which delayed the release by months. While the CBFC demanded certain changes to be made to the film, the producers refused to do any further cuts.

At the time, Sandhya Suri had revealed in an interview to a media outlet that the Censor Board demanded a long list of "radical cuts" that would have taken away from the ethos of the film.

"It was very important to me that the film is released in India so I did try to figure out if there was a way to make it work. But in the end it was just too difficult to make those cuts and have a film that still made sense, let alone stayed true to its vision", the filmmaker had said.

Santosh stars actor Shahana Goswami in the titular role, a young widow who received her husband's job in the police department upon his passing. Also starring Sunita Rajwar, the movie portrays the raw, hard-hitting realities of caste, gender and power in India as Santosh navigates through caste and gender violence.

The movie's plot reads, "What begins as a symbolic placement quickly turns into a reckoning when she is assigned to the investigation of a Dalit teenager’s rape and murder. Partnered with Inspector [Geeta] Sharma (Sunita Rajwar), Santosh is forced to navigate a landscape where evidence is buried under prejudice, power shields perpetrators, and the law bends in the direction of those who write it".

Shahana Goswami believes that the film holds up a mirror to the world, a much needed one at that. "I cannot wait for everyone in India to finally be able to watch the film", the actor added.

Santosh has been produced by Good Chaos, Cinefrance Studios and MetFilm Production.

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