Laapataa Ladies, India`s official submission for the 97th Academy Awards` Best International Feature Film category, has been eliminated from the race for Oscars 2025 consideration. The Kiran Rao directorial may have lost the race, but another Hindi-language film that did make it to the shortlist is the United Kingdom`s submission, Santosh. What is this film about, who are the people behind it, and how has Shahana Goswami reacted to the shortlist? Here`s all you need to know about the Oscars 2025 shortlisted feature film.

Santosh’s plot-line

The Sandhya Suri-directed movie is about a Hindu widow who acquires her husband’s position as a police constable through a government program. She finds herself entangled in institutional politics as she tries to work with veteran detective Inspector Sharma (Sunita Rajwar) on a brutal murder case involving a teenage girl from the lower-caste Dalit community.