Santosh
The odd Indian eventuality of a cop’s wife taking his job if he dies in service is the driver of Santosh, documentarian Sandhya Suri’s feature debut, a fascinating and thrilling Serpico-style story of corruption, discrimination and the outsider/insider dynamic. Suri does it largely in documentary style. After a fly-on-the-wall introduction to Santosh, a widow threatened with destitution because her dead husband’s family have no interest in supporting her, we’re into the meat of the story – Santosh discovers there is a way for her to earn a living. Under the “compassionate recruitment” scheme, she is offered a faint simulacrum of her husband’s job – “lady police work” the officer interviewing her says. Once … Read more