‘I am against violence against women…’, how did you get the idea of ​​making ‘Santosh’? Filmmaker Sandhya Suri told

Last Updated:January 14, 2025, 14:56 IST

Sandhya Suri Film Santosh: Filmmaker Sandhya Suri’s film ‘Santosh’ talks about violence against women. For this he has done a lot of research in India. Sandhya Suri told how she got the idea of ​​making a film on this issue.

New DelhiProducer and writer Sandhya Suri talked about her film ‘Santosh’. This movie of his has been sent as an official entry from the UK for the Best International Feature Film category of Oscar 2025. Sandhya Suri told that she was looking for a meaningful way to talk about violence against women, which she has expressed through the film.

Sandhya Suri said in a conversation with IANS, ‘When I was doing research in India and working with various NGOs, I came across a picture. After the Nirbhaya case, there were protests across the country and this was a picture of Delhi, in which there was a crowd of angry women protesters, they were angry and a team of women police officers were forcing them to step back. One of them had such an expression on his face that I was surprised to see.

How did you get the idea for the film?
She further said, ‘I saw how much gulf there is between them and the protesters, how much power there is in their uniforms and how much helplessness they feel in not feeling safe as a common woman. When I started researching women police constables, I came across a government scheme for appointment on compassionate grounds, under which eligible dependents of deceased police officers can inherit their jobs.

spent time with widows
He told that after spending time with many widows, it was found that some widows were earlier leading a very secure life, they did not even go out of the house without their husbands or relatives until the police training started. She said, ‘I was very impressed by this journey, from housewife to widow, then to policewoman. This was a journey I wanted to write about and see,

What is the story of Santosh movie?
Giving information about the film ‘Santosh’, Sandhya Suri told that the film revolves around a young widow who gets a job as a police constable in rural India after the death of her husband and investigates a murder. Is. This is the first time that UK has selected a Hindi language film for this category.

Sandhya has been an English teacher in Germany
Sandhya, who has been an English teacher in Germany, said, ‘Making films excited me, not analyzing them. So I decided to go to film school, which opened the door to doing something different. He explained that his background in mathematics gave him a unique way of thinking, which he used to look at filmmaking and film storytelling from a new perspective.

Started work on Santosh in year 2016
After taking training in documentary filmmaking at the National Film and Television School (NFTS) in the UK, director Sandhya made several documentaries including ‘Eye for India’, ‘Around India with a Movie Camera’ and the short film ‘The Field’. He started work on ‘Santosh’ in 2016.

film sent for oscar
Sandhya Suri told that when she got the news of Santosh going to the Oscars, she became very excited. She told, ‘When I heard the news that Santosh has been selected for the official competition at the Cannes Film Festival and later at the Oscars, I was out shopping and as soon as I heard the news, I left the shopping and screamed with joy. My 11 year old daughter was also with me at that time.