Sunita Rajwar makes an authority figure feel like someone to turn to, even when we know better. Her work in Santosh is a persuasive case for less restrictive casting, and for scripts that trust their actors.
Fi1m perspective
In Santosh (2024), Sunita Rajwar's Inspector Sharma offers support to a woman working inside a police force hostile towards women. Her scenes with Shahana Goswami let the affection feel welcome without suggesting that either woman is harmless. We were unsettled by their warmth, because it made belonging to this institution seem attractive despite everything wrong with it. Rajwar makes it possible to understand why Santosh might respond to the person helping her rather than question the force around her. This is an absorbing police drama, and Rajwar's ability to make that relationship convincing is one of its chief strengths.
Her early gangster role, Chakli in Ek Chalis Ki Last Local (2008), did not prevent repeated casting as domestic help, a restriction that prompted a break from acting. Wider recognition came with Bittu ki Mummy in Gullak (from 2019) and Kranti Devi in Panchayat (from 2022). Alongside mother roles in Stree (2018) and Bala (2019), these parts made the household and neighbourhood her usual territory. Her ability to change vocal tone and bearing matters here: familiar character types need not all sound and behave alike. Santosh gives her the opportunity to apply that skill to a more restrained, authoritative part.
Sandhya Suri gives Rajwar and Goswami enough room to show why two women might feel close in an institution that rewards prejudice. Their closeness gives the film human weight, though the writing becomes too eager to explain what the performances have already shown. We wanted Suri to trust their exchanges more, rather than underline the point. The prospect of more parts like Sharma is welcome, provided casting does not simply replace one narrow set of roles with another. Start with Santosh for Rajwar, and allow for a script that occasionally does too much of the talking.
Biography
Sunita Rajwar is an Indian actress who graduated from the National School of Drama in New Delhi in 1997. She has worked in film, television and stage productions since the early 2000s.
She is known for supporting roles in films including Ek Chalis Ki Last Local (2007), Stree (2018), Kedarnath (2018), Bala (2019) and Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan (2020). On television and web series she has appeared as Kranti Devi in Panchayat (2020–) and as Bittu Ki Mummy in Gullak (2019–), for which she received a Filmfare OTT Award. In Santosh (2024) she played Inspector Sharma.
