Recently, On Monday, 23rd September, the Film Federation of India had announced Kiran Rao’s light-hearted film Laapataa Ladies as India’s official entry for Oscars 2025. A committee of 13 members headed by Assamese director Jahnu Barua, considered Laapataa Ladies in the best international film category at the Academy Awards.
Kiran Rao’s Laapataa ladies has now clashed with UK’s Hindi movie titled Santosh as it has aslo got selected as the Best International Feature Film for the Oscars 2025.
Santosh is an UK’s Hindi-language crime drama film. It is directed by Sandhya Suri. The film stars Indian actresses Shahana Goswami and Sunita Rajwar in the lead roles. The film is produced by Mike Goodridge, James Bosher, Balthazar de Ganay and Alan McAlex. Ama Ampadu, Eva Yates, Diamond Scrimshaw, Lucia Haslauer and Martin Gerhard are its executive producers. This movie got selected by BAFTA, an organization appointed by the US Academy.
The plot of this movie revolves a 28-year-old widow, played by actress Shahana Goswami, who takes her late husband's job as a police officer and investigates the case of a minor girl's mysterious murder case.
Santosh’s actress Shahana Goswami expressed her excitement and said “There are so many technicalities involved that you never think about these things. Who would imagine that an Indian film could be picked from Britain? But it does feel wonderful, and I am really happy about it.”
“I think it’s a great depiction of the world going global and cosmopolitan. Because these countries have funds and grants, and our director is a British citizen, it made sense to be backed by them. It also strengthens the belief that we can look beyond boundaries. But it is funny that a Hindi film with Indian actors has been submitted in the foreign language category,” she further added.
She expressed her admiration for Kiran Rao and said, “I have always admired Kiran and championed the fact that she was directing again. Also, the producer is a friend, so I was happy that people I admire have achieved this big feat. Now, if we get this together or if one of the films gets picked, it’s going to be a happy time ahead. As they rightly say, the more, the merrier.”