Originally titled Punjab ‘95, the project had remained unreleased in India after the CBFC withheld certification and reportedly sought extensive changes.
Just two days after it premiered on streaming service ZEE5, Diljit Dosanjh-starrer Satluj, a film based on the life of human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, has been made unavailable in India.
In a statement on Sunday (July 5), ZEE5 said, “In light of the current developments, Satluj will be unavailable in India until further notice.” The platform added that it remained committed to exploring “every appropriate avenue through due process” to bring the film back to Indian audiences. While it has now been pulled from India, the film continues to stream internationally on ZEE5 Global.
Directed by Honey Trehan and produced by Ronnie Screwvala’s RSVP alongside MacGuffin Pictures, the film was released on ZEE5 on July 3 after certification troubles delayed it for around three years. Here is what to know.
Who was Jaswant Singh Khalra?
Jaswant Singh Khalra (Wikimedia Commons)
Khalra hailed from Amritsar and was known for campaigning against the disappearance of thousands of Sikh youths during the Punjab militancy from the 1980s to the 1990s. Many were later found to have been killed in fake encounters.
The Cooperative Bank director-turned-human rights activist was also appointed as general secretary of the Shiromani Akali Dal’s human rights wing, created especially to examine alleged cases of extra-judicial killings.
However, Khalra himself became a victim of one such forced disappearance. On September 6, 1995, he was kidnapped from his house, allegedly at the behest of the then-Punjab Police officials. The activist was allegedly tortured at the Jhabal police station before being shot dead, and his body was disposed of near the Harike Bridge on the Sutlej river.
Following a petition filed by Khalra’s widow, Paramjit Kaur, the Supreme Court in 1996 ordered that the case be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
A Patiala court in 2005 convicted six policemen of his murder. The verdict was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2011. The same year, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) directed a high-level state committee to probe 657 militancy-era cases of official agencies cremating unclaimed bodies, an issue that Khalra’s investigations had helped bring to national attention.
Today, Paramjit Kaur runs the Khalra Mission Organisation in his memory. In 2025, an elementary school in Fresno, California, became the first in the US to be named after Jaswant Singh Khalra.
Why did the film face delays?
The film was produced with the Khalra family’s consent, which the makers sought before work began on the project.
Originally titled Punjab ‘95, the project ran into certification hurdles after it was submitted to the CBFC in 2022. The board reportedly sought as many as 127 cuts and also asked to change its title. The filmmakers challenged the decision in the Bombay High Court before later withdrawing the case. In 2023, the film was also withdrawn from a planned premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.
After around three years in limbo, the makers abandoned plans for a theatrical release and opted to premiere the film directly on ZEE5. The film was released as Satluj, with director Honey Trehan saying the version that reached the platform was the complete film, “in its original form as we always intended”.
However, just two days after its release, ZEE5 removed the film from its India catalogue. Director Honey Trehan said he learnt of the decision only after it was implemented. “I got to know about the removal of Satluj from ZEE5 in India at around 8.15 pm on Sunday. I am at a loss right now. I don’t know how to react to this development,” he told The Indian Express.
In a statement, ZEE5 thanked viewers for what it described as an “overwhelming response” to the film and said it stood by “the creative vision behind” Satluj. “We believe powerful storytelling has the ability to inspire, endure and leave a lasting impact,” the platform said, adding that its commitment to creators and authentic storytelling remained “unwavering”.
Before the film was taken down, Dosanjh had acknowledged concerns that such a move was possible during a live interaction on social media. “There was a fear that it could be removed. I think you might have downloaded the movie by now. So, now there is no fear,” he had said.
Dosanjh has previously explored Punjab’s militancy on screen. Punjab 1984, which dealt with human rights during the insurgency, was released without facing similar hurdles in 2014. He later starred in Chamkila, based on singer Amar Singh Chamkila, who was assassinated in 1988.
