Filmmaker Sandhya Suri has described the last-minute pause on the digital premiere of her critically-acclaimed film Santosh in India as “a real shame”.
The 2024 film, which debuted at the Cannes Film Festival and had a US release in December 2024, was set to stream on Lionsgate Play in India Friday, October 17. Vertigo released the film in the UK earlier this year in March.
The film did not get a theatrical release in India due to censorship issues.
“The process in India is that the censor board may ask you to make cuts for a theatrical release. The cuts they asked for were not acceptable to me or my team. We could not make those cuts as they compromised the integrity of the film too profoundly,” Suri told Deadline.
“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,” she added.
Suri acknowledged that, despite no official release, viewers in India are already watching the film through unofficial channels. She warned that the pause could further fuel piracy.
“It was announced and now we’re un-announcing, so a lot more people are going to watch it in some other form,” the filmmaker said. “My wish is for the film to be distributed legitimately and uncut in India.”
Santosh follows a newly widowed Santosh (played by Shahana Goswami), who inherits her late husband’s job as a police constable and becomes involved in the investigation of a young girl’s murder.
The film was produced by Good Chaos, with co-producers Razor Film and Haut et Court, and financed by BFI and BBC Film. It was also the UK’s submission for the Best International Feature category at the 97th Academy Awards.