Santosh

Now that her husband has died, he worked for the police, housewife Santosh has to leave her home unless she takes over his job. And so overnight she becomes a policewoman in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Soon she is confronted with the dark facets of her new job when a man comes forward whose 15-year-old daughter has disappeared. She wants to work on his behalf, but her supervisor dismisses the case because it involves lower-caste people. When the girl is later found raped and murdered, another person is put on the case: detective Sharma. She energetically picks up the investigation into the case, along with Santosh. Soon they are on the trail of a suspect.

Violence against women is commonplace in India. Director Sandhya Suri shows the role patriarchal thinking, political incompetence, corruption and the caste system play in it. This resulted in this compelling police thriller, with strong acting and visually overwhelming images.