For Sandhya Suri, Santosh going to the Oscars 2024 is a "dream come true." The director, for whom the crime thriller is her debut in feature films, it is fascinating with how the Shahana Goswami film is "resonating with audiences around the world." Now, in an exclusive interview with Zoom, Suri shared why she believes Santosh resonates so much with a global audience. "Santosh is so deeply rooted in India,” Suri shared with Zoom adding that the film involved days of research on her part.

“I spent a great amount of time researching and making sure that all details feel correct,” the director revealed, reasoning why she feels Santosh has resonated so well with global citizens. “I think there is two things. But primarily, it is the emotional grounding of Santosh and a fantastic performance by Shahana (Goswami).” Also Read: Calling Shahana the “key into the world” for the audience, Suri added, “The viewer is almost standing behind her shoulder and looking in and bearing witness and experiencing the world of Santosh with her.” “It sort of has an immersive quality which makes for a very direct connection with the audience,” Sandhya reasoned, adding, “Even no extra score or big film music either. So we are really in the world and listening to what she hears and being very with her.” According to Suri, this immersive quality is what lends “that deep emotional connection with her and the big journey she goes on from being a wife to a widow to a police woman, which is like a big trajectory for any character.” “I think it is also interesting that the issues that the film deals with around the fault lines of society and powerful or powerlessness and impunity - I think those are issues, along with those of corruption and violence and institutional problems are actually resonating with audiences around the world.” “They may seem more prevalent and closer to the surface than the context of this film but actually audiences are actually engaging in it with Shahana (Santosh)'s very personal and intimate journey. It is a path between the deeply intimate and the larger political context,” she signed off.