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Times data reporter Sandhya Kambhampati and researcher Scott Wilson contributed to this report.

A policeman’s widow picks up her late husband’s badge in the noir-inflected thriller “Santosh” from British-Indian writer-director Sandhya Suri, whose background in documentary gives this moody character study slash crime procedural — and potent critique of institutional abuse in India — the air of something patiently witnessed as much as it is carefully crafted.

“Santosh,” the United Kingdom’s submission for the international feature Oscar, originally was intended as a documentary, but it became Sandhya Suri’s feature debut instead.

What did make it was British-Indian director Sandhya Suri's Hindi film Santosh, which had been picked as the UK's submission to the Oscars.

The biggest surprise this year came from the UK, which selected the Hindi-language film Santosh, directed by British-Indian filmmaker Sandhya Suri, as its Oscar entry.