‘Satluj’s Brief Digital Run Was Healing. Now It’s Gone’
Honey Trehan reacts to his film on Punjab human rights activist Khalra being taken down from a streaming platform
The Diljit Dosanjh-starrer Satluj was abruptly removed from ZEE5 in India on July 5, just two days after its digital premiere.
ZEE5 India cited unspecified “current developments” for the removal, but emphasised that they stand firmly by the movie’s creative vision. The streaming platform added that it was exploring legal options and appropriate avenues to restore the film to Indian audiences.
The hard-hitting biopic on Jaswant Singh Khalra, prominent human rights activist from Punjab, remains available internationally to audiences outside India via ZEE5 Global.
Directed by Honey Trehan, it chronicles the struggles of Khalra, who exposed mass disappearances and extrajudicial killings in Punjab. The makers spent nearly three years in a fierce battle with the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), which had demanded up to 127 cuts. To protect the integrity of the narrative, the creators skipped a theatrical run and decided to stream it uncut online.
Lead actor Diljit Dosanjh had anticipated the ban and urged fans to watch or download it quickly. “I challenge the darkness,” he posted, when his fears came true.
“I can’t say the move (the film’s removal) is totally, unexpected,” said Honey Trehan. “We took this call to stream the film on Zee5 in just a week and we moved forward. Now we are back to Square One.”
The biographical drama was originally titled Ghallughara and later renamed Panjab ‘95 before acquiring its current name. Trehan explains the multiple title changes. “When the title Ghallugara was removed, we were in a hurry to get another, as we were to attend the Toronto film festival; so we went for Panjab 95. But we were not able to get that title for some technical reason. We had already registered Satluj as a title, so we moved forward with that.”
Claiming that neither he nor his producer, Ronnie Screwvala, could get a response from CBFC for a long time, Trehan said they grabbed the digital release opportunity when it came.
“Jaswant Singh Khalra is a great messiah of human rights. I didn’t care whether it was entertaining or not. When the opportunity to release it came, I grabbed it, because there is no censorship for digital streaming. If I hadn’t done so, the film would still have been frozen, waiting for the Censor Board. But now, this development puts us back to our earlier situation of uncertainty. There’s no telling when the film will be aired. I’m in shock,” he lamented.
Trehan said Diljit Dosanjh was the first choice to play Jaswant Singh Khalra. “I don’t think he took even 40 seconds to think about coming on board. I don’t think any of my artistes have supported me more than Diljit. Both he and my producer stood by me as pillars of strength,” he added.
He expressed particular appreciation of the support Diljit has shown for the project. “While addressing 55,000 people in his Vancouver show, Diljit talked about this film and the hurdles barring its release. He’s engaging with the audience still about the film, bringing me on live.”
Stressing that everyone involved is attached to the film, Trehan said, “Arjun Rampal calls or texts every other day, saying ‘I hope our film comes out soon.’”
Admitting to feeling a bit bad and bitter about the situation, Trehan said, “I think the people who wanted to stop this must have their own reasons. But the people who have supported this film also have their own reasons.” He described the short-lived release of Satluj as “more like a healing than a victory,” adding disconsolately, “now, that victory is snatched away.”
