Actor Shahana Goswami's film Santosh, directed by British-Indian filmmaker Sandhya Suri in her directorial debut, is just a few steps away from grabbing the Academy Award this year. The film was picked as UK's official entry to the Oscars last year.

On Friday, the committee had announced that the film, set in rural India, is among the top fifteen films that has advanced to the next round of voting in the International Feature Film category in the 97th Academy Awards.

The other films that have advanced towards the next round are: I'm Still Here from Brazil, Universal Language from Canada, Waves from Czech Republic, The Girl With The Needle from Denmark, Emilia Perez from France, The Seed of The Sacred Fig from Germany, Touch from Iceland, Kneecap from Ireland, Vermiglio from Italy, Flow from Latvia, Armand from Norway, From Ground Zero from Palestine, Dahomey from Senegal, and How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies from Thailand.

The police procedural also stars Sunita Rajwar. It debuted in the Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival 2024. The film’s official synopsis reads: “In rural Northern India, newly widowed Santosh inherits her late husband’s job as a police constable and becomes embroiled in the investigation of a young girl’s murder.”

Santosh is produced by Mike Goodridge, James Bowsher, Balthazar de Ganay, and Alan McAlex. Executive producers are Ama Ampadu, Eva Yates, Diarmid Scrimshaw, Lucia Haslauer, and Martin Gerhard.