As well as working rivetingly as a procedural thriller and a psychological study, Santosh has a hard, documentary-like edge, exploring Indian social phenomena with intense analytical focus.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Mar 24, 2025

A tough, sinewy, satisfying film.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 22, 2025

It’s a slow, detailed procedural, one which carefully draws you into its dismal intrigue – and it’s engrossing for much of its runtime.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 20, 2025

Goswami is a perfect vehicle for Suri’s understated, seething indictment of the root-and-branch corruption of this small Northern Indian town.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jan 31, 2025

Undeniably powerful.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jan 29, 2025

To watch “Santosh” is to feel the undeniable power of a discerning, resonant case study.

| Jan 13, 2025

In its most compelling stretches, Santosh operates as a kind of subverted procedural in which every aspect of the investigation is, at best, an informality of dubious legal standing.

| Original Score: B- | Jan 6, 2025

Caste and religion and class and gender are all part of this system, and that’s the broader critique in “Santosh,” which is quite furious by the end.

| Jan 3, 2025

And while “Santosh” approaches these issues with a startling bluntness, its impact is rarely felt beneath the surface.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Dec 26, 2024

The India on display in Santosh is fascinatingly shot through with contradictions.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 18, 2024

Seldom probes beyond the surface... But in the process, it finds value as an academic inquiry into familiar moving images by forcing the audience to lean forward and inspect their meaning.

| Jun 1, 2024

If ‘Training Day with more grey areas’ sounds dull, it’s anything but.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 28, 2024

This assured sense of direction coupled with controlled performances make Santosh a compelling drama. But it’s Suri’s screenplay that renders the film immersive.

| May 24, 2024

It’s incredibly effective and culminates in one of the best closing shots of any film to show at this year’s festival. Without ever once overplaying its hand, it ensures the smallest act of resistance and compassion hits like a train.

| May 23, 2024

The treatment is stark, unflinching, fearless, and makes it stand out...

| May 21, 2024

There’s a knotty complexity to the relationship between the two women, something that Rajwar mines superbly with her charismatic but unreadable performance.

| May 21, 2024

Suri’s film is full of non-actors who excel at being themselves in front of the camera, the result so eminently watchable because it feels so remarkably like the real India.

| Original Score: B | May 20, 2024