Santosh director Sandhya Suri calls CBFC blocking acclaimed film's India release ‘disappointing and heartbreaking’

Hindi film Santosh, the UK's official entry to the Oscars, is not releasing in India as CBFC is refusing to certify it due to its depiction of police violence.

The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has blocked the release of critically-acclaimed Hindi film Santosh over the concerns about portrayal of misogyny, Islamophobia and violence by the police. The film, UK's official entry to the Oscars, is jointly produced by British and French production houses, but is set and shot in India. Santosh has won critical acclaim worldwide. (Also release: No India release for UK Oscar entry Santosh?)

‘It was surprising for all of us’

Shahana Goswami in a still from Santosh.

In an interview with The Guardian, director Sandhya Suri called CBFC's decision 'disappointing and heartbreaking'. “It was surprising for all of us because I didn’t feel that these issues were particularly new to Indian cinema or hadn’t been raised before by other films,” she said.

‘Censor demanded lengthy and widespread cuts’

Sandhya mentioned that the board had demanded a long list of lengthy and widespread cuts which were impossible to implement. “It was very important to me that the film is released in India so I did try to figure out if there was a way to make it work. But in the end it was just too difficult to make those cuts and have a film that still made sense, let alone stayed true to its vision,” she said.

About Santosh