The censor board refused to certify the Hindi-language police procedural crime drama Santosh, due to which the movie couldn’t be released in theatres. Santosh premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and was the U.K.’s official entry for the Oscars’ International Feature category. It also earned a BAFTA nomination for Best Debut Feature.
Those who saw the film lauded it, but the majority of the Indian audience didn’t get a chance to watch it due to no theatrical release. Recently Lionsgate Play announced that the movie will be available for streaming from October 17, but that didn’t happen.
British-Indian filmmaker Sandhya Suri who directed the film addressed the issue in an interview with Deadline. She explained that the cuts asked by the censor board compromised the integrity of the film. Sandhya Suri further added that the streaming issues will only make the people watch the film in some other form leading to increase of piracy.
She said, “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.”
Santosh is about a young widow who joins the police force and investigates the murder of a Dalit girl. Shahana Goswami and Sunita Rajwar played the lead roles.