‘Koi communication hi nahi...’: Writer Niren Bhatt says as Satluj's 9.5 IMDb rating disappears

Satluj, Diljit Dosanjh's highly controversial movie, which only streamed for two days on Zee5 before being banned in India, has continued to make headlines since.

Director Honey Trehan's movie, featuring actor Diljit Dosanjh, was among the highest-rated Indian movies on IMDb (Internet Movie Database), with a 9.5 rating. However, the IMDb ratings for the biopic of activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, previously titled Panjab '95, have now disappeared from the platform.

Satluj co-writer Niren Bhatt told HT City that he had no idea how this happened, “Film kab aane wali thi, kab chali gayi humein pata nahi chala. Ab yeh IMDb rating ka… kisko problem tha, kya problem tha, koi communication hi nahi tha.”

Filmmaker Sanjay Gupta was among the early observers to react to the development. In an X post, Gupta questioned the credibility of IMDb’s ratings and wrote, “Rated 9.5 till yesterday. Gone today. Not that I ever trusted or believed in IMDB ratings. But this proves how bogus they are (sic).”

In an earlier interview, Niren had criticised the lack of transparency around the film’s prolonged release struggle.

“I feel someone in the establishment has a massive problem with it, but the real issue is the complete lack of communication. For years, it has just been pure stonewalling,” he told Variety India. “There is pin drop silence from the CBFC. They will not tell us what their problem is, which parts offend them or who is making these calls.”

Meanwhile, Diljit Dosanjh said that the ban was bound to happen, and that the movie had already been downloaded by many. ZEE5, however, issued an appeal asking people not to support piracy.

About Satluj

The movie details the life of Khalra in Punjab in the turbulent 1990s when the state was reeling under terrorism. He investigated the cremation of thousands of unidentified bodies in Punjab during a 10-year period from 1984 to 1994. Khalra disappeared in 1995.

In 2005, four Punjab Police personnel were convicted for his abduction and murder and sentenced to seven years in prison. Two years later, the Punjab and Haryana High Court enhanced their sentence to life imprisonment.

The movie was stuck with the censor board for more than three years before being released uncut on ZEE5 on July 3 under a new title, Satluj. It was removed from the platform two days later, on July 5.

Some Sikh religious groups and other outfits have begun publicly screening the film at gurdwaras and village grounds at some places in the state.

SAD to screen Satluj in every village of Punjab

Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Wednesday said his party will screen Satluj in every village and corner of Punjab.

In a post on X in Punjabi, Badal said, "In every village and corner of Punjab, the SAD will screen the film 'Satluj' based on inhuman atrocities inflicted on thousands of innocent Sikh youth and Sikh personalities like Shaheed Bhai Jaswant Singh Ji Khalra during the Congress regime, so that our children and future generations can be thoroughly acquainted with the oppression inflicted..."

This film narrates the truth of that painful period which did not stop even after the "military attack" on Sachkhand Sri Harmandir Sahib, also known the Golden Temple, and the burning alive of thousands of unarmed innocent Sikh youth, women, elderly people and children in Delhi and other cities (anti-Sikh riots in '84), Badal said in the post.

(With agency inputs)