‘Santosh’ Review: A Dramatic Inquiry Into Images of Indian Policing

Tributes have been paid to the Indian media baron Ramoji Rao, who has died at the age of 87.

Naman Ramachandran Indian animation will be in the spotlight across the 2024 Annecy Animation Festival. For the first time, Indian animation will feature at Namaste MIFA, a pitch event at MIFA (Marché International du Film d’Animation) in Annecy. The event, organized by Annecy-backed Indian animation festival AniMela and co-hosted by Assemblage Entertainment and Zebu Animation Studios, will present four work-in-progress projects reflecting diverse themes such as sports, food, gender and tradition.

Naman Ramachandran After playing the host of “Kaun Banega Crorepati,” the Indian version of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” in “Slumdog Millionaire,” Indian star Anil Kapoor will be the new host of “Bigg Boss OTT,” a Hindi-language adaptation of the “Big Brother” format. The third digital edition of the reality show will commence June 21 on billionaire Mukesh Ambani‘s JioCinema Premium streamer. The first season was hosted by Indian media personality Karan Johar and the second by Bollywood star Salman Khan.

Afternoon, Cannes is over but the world of film and TV rumbles on. Here’s your weekly dose of Insider news ‘n’ goss from Max Goldbart. Make us happy and sign up here.

Naman Ramachandran Tarsem Singh Dhandwar’s “Dear Jassi” and Arati Kadav’s “Mrs” will open and close this year’s New York Indian Film Festival. Punjabi and English-language “Dear Jassi,” a tale of star-crossed lovers based on a true story, arrives in New York after a glittering festival run that began in 2023, at Toronto, where it won the Platform Prize.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The 15th anniversary edition of the London Indian Film Festival will open on June 26 with the European Premiere of U.S. indie, tear-jerker drama “Paper Flowers,” directed by Mahesh Pailoor (“Brahmin Bulls”), starring “Deadpool’s” Karan Soni. It will close on July 7 with a screening of ultra-violent Indian actioner “Kill,” which is produced by Karan Johar and Guneet Monga and which represents Lionsgate’s first foray into South Asian film production.

Naman Ramachandran Deepika Padukone, who made her Bollywood debut with “Om Shanti Om” (2007), has topped IMDb’s list of the top 100 most viewed Indian stars of the last decade. Shah Rukh Khan, her co-star in that and several other films, is in second place. The list is determined by the page views of the 250 million monthly visitors to IMDb worldwide.

Maharagni – Queen of Queens,” starring Kajol and Prabhu Deva. The film, an action-thriller, marks the reunion of the two actors 27 years after Rajiv Menon’s “Minsaara Kanavu” (1997). The cast also includes Naseeruddin Shah, Samyuktha Menon, Jisshu Sengupta and Aditya Seal.

Siddhant Adlakha Karan Kandhari‘s “Sister Midnight” is a surreal Mumbai fable with an aggressive comedic rhythm. It’s composed by hitting the same few notes ad nauseam, but hitting them exceptionally well and for much longer than one might expect before it eventually runs out of steam. All the while, Kandhari takes a novel visual approach to the topic of arranged marriage, situating his woebegone couple — his protagonist in particular, a woman who feels trapped — in a realm of strange psychosis.

“All We Imagine As Light” opens as only a film set in Mumbai can— with the gradual unfurling of this massive metropolis at dawn. Its essential workers begin corralling the huge resources needed to maintain its creaking infrastructure and feed the tens of millions of people who will wake up and take public transport to work.

Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light landed a hearty eight minute standing ovation following its debut this evening at the Cannes Film Festival. 

Katcy Stephan Indian Paintbrush founder Steven Rales has purchased Criterion and Janus Films. The mission and leadership of the companies will not change following the private transaction.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Metrograph Pictures has acquired North American rights to Sandhya Suri’s Cannes standout “Santosh” following its world premiere in Un Certain Regard. Metrograph Pictures will distribute the film theatrically, with additional release details to be announced at a later date. MK2 Films represents the movie in international markets.

Naman Ramachandran Sandhya Suri’s fiction feature debut “Santosh,” which bows in the Cannes Film Festival‘s Un Certain Regard strand, has unveiled its first clip. In the film, a government scheme sees newly widowed Santosh inherit her slain husband’s job as a police constable in the rural badlands of northern India.

Naman Ramachandran The restored version of Indian filmmaker Shyam Benegal’s 1976 masterpiece “Manthan” (“The Churning”) is screening at the Cannes Film Festival‘s Cannes Classics strand. Shot by DoP Govind Nihalani in rural Gujarat, western India, the film is produced by 500,000 farmers who contributed towards its making, under the banner Gujarat Milk Co-Op Marketing Federation Ltd. The film is a fictionalized version of the beginnings of the dairy cooperative movement that transformed India from a milk-deficient nation to the world’s largest milk producer, inspired by Dr.

Two films expected to be in the awards hunt as the year progresses will screen in tandem at a special one-night only film festival in Tulsa, OK.

Siddhant Adlakha A radical vision of Indian womanhood collides with scattered storytelling in director Konstantin Bojanov‘s “The Shameless,” a provocative queer drama laid low by its oblique narrative. Following two women destined for a life of sex work, the drama is lucid in its politics, but often opaque in its drama — a dynamic embodied by two wildly different lead performances. Anasuya Sengupta is remarkable as “Renuka,” a Muslim woman who dons the moniker of a Hindu goddess while on the run from police.

Naman Ramachandran Dimpy Agrawal‘s Gubbara Entertainment has unveiled a $1 million script development fund aimed at empowering Indian feature filmmakers at the Cannes Film Festival‘s market. Agrawal previously served as a producer at Netflix India and her credits include some of the streamer’s top titles from the territory such as Zoya Akhtar’s “The Archies,” Vishal Bharwaj’s “Khufiya,” Vasan Bala’s “Monica, O My Darling” and Ajay Singh’s “Chor Nikal Ke Bhaga.” She has had prior stints at Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions and Phantom Productions. Gubbara was launched in early 2023.

For two years in a row, Deepika Padukone has kickstarted India’s box office with a bang: In 2023, the acclaimed actor and producer reunited with her Om Shanti Om co-star Shah Rukh Khan for espionage actioner Pathaan, which went on to take $76 million in India and crossed the $100 million global box office milestone without a China release. This year Padukone starred in Viacom/Marflix’s Hindi aviation actioner Fighter (from Pathaan director Siddharth Anand), which grossed $43 million globally in just 30 days.

Naman Ramachandran Animation studio Toonz Media Group has unveiled an eclectic slate for the Cannes Film Market. Drawing stories from popular Indian ancient fables and retelling them with a contemporary flavor, “Return of the Jungle” is set in present-day India and revolves around a group of classmates from junior school who must outwit the biggest, meanest bully in the school. A cool and loveable grandpa by their side peps the fourth graders with inspiring stories from the jungle.