Oscars 2025: Shahana Goswami Starrer Santosh Enters 97th Acamedy Awards Race After Laapataa Ladies

Oscars 2025: Shahana Goswami starrer Santosh has been submitted by the United Kingdom as its official entry to the Academy Race. The movie will be competing for the Best International feature alongside India's Laapataa Ladies and others. The Hindi language movie had earlier premiered at the Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival 2024.

Shahana Goswami starrer Hindi film Santosh sent to Oscars by the UK

The Shahana Goswami starrer is a Hindi film that narrates the life of a newly widowed woman who takes her husband's job as a police constable following his passing. It marks the directorial debut of the British-Indian filmmaker Suri. The movie has now made it to the Oscars race, but will be representing the United Kingdom.

The UK had won the Oscar for the Best International Feature for the first time at the 96th Academy Award. Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest won the honour for the country.  Along with Shahana Goswami, Santosh also stars Sunita Rajwar in a pivotal role.

Why was a Hindi-language film submitted by the UK for the Oscars? 

From India, the FFI declared Kiran Rao's Laapataa Ladies as its official entry to the Oscar race. What makes Santosh, a Hindi film, eligible as a submission from the UK is its producer. The film is backed by British producers Mike Goodridge, James Bowsher, Balthazar de Ganay, and Alan McAlex and was also released in the country theatrically. Additionally, as per reports, the criteria for a film to be eligible for the Best International Feature Film category is for it to not be in English. Thus, the UK often sends non-English movies as its official selection.

Shahana Goswami's Santosh will now be competing against Laapataa Ladies from India. However, a submission does not guarantee a nomination of either movie. The Academy jury would go through several rounds of shortlisting before announcing the final nominations in November.