By 
It is unlikely you will see a bleaker movie than”Santosh,” the outstanding feature directorial debut of documentarian Sandhya Suri. Opening this Pandora’s Box filled with poverty, racism, caste hatred, corruption and governmental incompetence is gut wrenching because it goes beyond the horror of everyday life in rural India telling the journey of young widow Santosh as her eyes are opened to the world around her.
Shahana Goswani as Santosh. Photo courtesy of Metrograph Pictures.
Recently widowed, Santosh is summarily rejected by her in-laws. Hers was a love marriage and there was no dowry negotiated between the parents. Her husband, a police officer, was killed on the job while trying to maintain peace at a riot started by Muslims at an outpost. He had not been an officer long enough to qualify for a sustainable pension but, in a quirk of the law, her husband’s place on the force is offered to Santosh. With no other means to support herself, she accepts and is thrust in the middle of an understaffed, corrupt and incompetent corps of small town policemen. Rarely are they in the station but can be found most days drinking and playing cards at a local pub. She, as a woman and the newest hire, is faced with ridicule and worse. When she is approached by a man trying to report that his daughter is missing, she kindly offers to help, only to find that her colleagues are less than interested in his plight and steadfastly refuse to take his statement.
Santosh, unaware of the hierarchy of cases, is shocked. The man is clearly in pain and the others in his village reveal that they know nothing will be done. A child comes forward with news. The girl has been found in the town well, their only source of water. It is a statement made to belittle how low they are. Santosh, naively, asks her colleagues for help but their extra-curricular activities are too important to disrupt. She will have to accompany the body to the morgue. It is both Santosh’s and our realization that the girl is Dalit (Untouchable) and no one on the force can be bothered to help someone whose life and death are so insignificant. That this was a murder and rape of a 14 year old girl seemingly matters only to Santosh. She is determined to find the culprit. Under the supervision of Sharma, an unlikely female inspector who commands respect even from the men below her, she is trusted to continue her investigation.
Sunita Rajwar as Sharma and Shahana Goswani as Santosh. Photo courtesy of Metrograph Pictures.
Seduced by the power and authority of Sharma, Santosh follows her lead despite her misgivings of the methods used. The tools of the trade are intimidation and physical violence. Far from the big city, little has changed over the years in terms of the brutal methodology and soon, even Santosh is participating as they zero in on who they think was responsible. She is relishing her new found authority under Sharma’s tutelage. But when doubts creep in, she has nowhere to turn, especially when she discovers another suspect, one with nothing to lose because he and his caste never lose. It is as Sharma explains to Santosh, there are Untouchables and those you cannot touch.
Suri’s film will envelop you with the hopelessness that surrounds Santosh. A primer in the caste system and what it means to be on the lowest rung of the ladder is informative and depressing Even with new laws, the more things change, the more they remain the same. As Santosh enters into your psyche, you feel what she feels and learn as she learns. The difficulty with all of this is the depths of the depression that it plumbs. Suri has given us no outlet for hope in this movie that so carefully and effectively shows the damage done by years of corruption, poverty and caste prejudice. That Santosh finds the killer and can do nothing about it, is the sadly ever after lesson that is imparted.
Suri’s skillful storytelling is enhanced by the graphic realism used by cinematographer Lennert Hillege in filming the dusty, cracked and worn villages of the outer limits of India, far from the major cities. It is a reminder of how huge and undeveloped most of this technologically advanced country is. Hillege’s photography will have you choking on the dust and sweating in the heat. The acting is excellent all around, led by the extraordinary Shahana Goswani as Santosh and Sunita Rajwar as a very complex Sharma.
In Hindi with English subtitles.
Opening January 10 at the Laemmle Royal.
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