Diljit Dosanjh's Satluj: Why is the movie controversial and how is it linked to Punjab insurgency

Diljit Dosanjh-starrer Satluj was removed from ZEE5 on 5 July. This came just two days after the controversial movie was premiered on the streaming service. This means the movie, based on the life of human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, is now unavailable in India.

ZEE5 cited ‘developments’ as the reason for removing the movie. “In light of the current developments, Satluj will be unavailable in India until further notice. We remain committed to exploring every appropriate avenue through due process to bring the film back to our audiences at the earliest opportunity,” it said in a statement on social media.

The film, however, remains available to stream abroad through ZEE5 Global.

Directed by Honey Trehan and produced by Ronnie Screwvala’s RSVP alongside MacGuffin Pictures, Satluj was released on ZEE5 on July 3 after certification troubles held it up for around three years.

Along with Diljit Dosanjh, the film also features Kanwaljeet Singh, Arjun Rampal, Suvinder Vicky and Geetika Vidya Ohlyan in key roles.

The film had remained in limbo after the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) reportedly asked for 127 cuts.

This was challenged in the Bombay High Court, but the case was later withdrawn. In 2023, the film was also withdrawn from a planned premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.

What is Satluj or Punjab '95 about?

The film, originally titled Ghallughara (massacre) and then Punjab '95, chronicles the life and work of Jaswant Singh Khalra, the human rights activist who investigated alleged cases of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings in Punjab in the 1990s.

It is basically a biographical drama centred on Khalra's efforts to document and expose alleged human rights violations during one of Punjab's most violent periods in 1990s.

“Coming at a time when human rights are viewed skeptically, and activism is routinely branded a threat to national security, Satluj arrives not just as a period drama, but as a fearless, contemporary warning," Anuj Kumar wrote in the movie review in The Hindu.

Caught in the cobwebs of the Central Board of Film Certification for years, it is the story of a terrifying dark, but more than that, it is the story of a solitary candle that refused to be blown out by the winds of systemic tyranny in a democracy, Kumar said.

Who was Jaswant Singh Khalra?

Jaswant Singh Khalra was a human rights activist from Punjab who became known for exposing cases of alleged illegal killings and secret cremations during the militancy years in the state.

Born in 1952 in Khalra village in Amritsar district, he worked as a bank employee in the 1980s before getting actively involved in human rights work.

The events following Operation Blue Star, the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, and the 1984 Anti-Sikh riots affected Khalra. Many Sikh families had then reported that their relatives had gone missing after being picked up by the Punjab Police on suspicion of having links with militancy.

25,000 ‘unidentified’ bodies

As people continued to mysteriously disappear, Khalra began gathering information from government records. His research eventually led him to municipal corporation records in Amritsar, where he reportedly found documents containing the names, ages and addresses of thousands of people who had allegedly been killed and illegally cremated by the police without informing their families.

In the movie, Khalra played by singer-actor Diljit Dosanjh, is heard talking about the alleged cremation of 25,000 ‘unidentified’ bodies in Punjab, and the killing of about 2,000 police officers for not collaborating in counter-terror operations in 1990s.

Khalra’s findings brought national and international attention to the issue and made him one of the most recognised human rights voices from Punjab.

Khalra went missing in 1995

In 1995, however, Khalra went missing. He was last seen washing his car outside his home before he disappeared, according to multiple accounts.

In 1996, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) found evidence that he had been held at a police station in Tarn Taran. The agency recommended the prosecution of nine Punjab police officials in connection with Khalra’s kidnapping and murder.

On 16 October 2007, a division bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, headed by Justices Mehtab Singh Gill and AN Jindal, increased the punishment to life imprisonment for four of the accused – former Sub-Inspectors Satnam Singh, Surinder Pal Singh and Jasbir Singh, along with former Head Constable Prithipal Singh.

Diljit Dosanjh reacts

Diljit Dosanjh issued his first public response after Satluj was taken down from ZEE5. The actor shared a clip from the film on social media, alongside a message that appeared to draw a direct comparison between the film's obstacles and Khalra's own experiences. Posting the video, Dosanjh wrote: “#ichallengethedarkness Shaheed Jaswant Singh Khalra Ji🙏🏽 #Panjab95 SATLUJ Naal V Oh Hee Hoyea Jo Khalra Saab Naal Hoyea (sic).

TMC leader and former Rajya Sabha member, Saket Gokhale said he has I have written to Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister for Information Broadcasting and IT expressing his strongest protest against the "banning of this important film."

"I understand this is a futile exercise but history will not forgive us if we choose to remain silent. We owe it to the memory of Jaswant Singh Khalra and the thousands of victims of Punjab whose story is being shamefully buried. It is time that our nation starts having the uncomfortable conversations that are required to acknowledge and confront the dark episodes of our past," Gokhale said in a post on X sharing his letter to the I& B Minister.