Why a Diljit Dosanjh film vanished from streaming after two days
Satluj is inspired by the life of human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, who investigated allegations of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings during Punjab's separatist insurgency - and then he himself disappeared. He was later found to have been abducted and murdered. Several Punjab police officers were eventually convicted for their role in the killing.Satluj was released on the ZEE5 platform on Friday but removed two days later. ZEE5 said in a statemen, externalt the film would be unavailable in India "until further notice" because of "current developments" but did not explain what they were. With ZEE5 pulling it, the film is no longer officially available in India. Completed in 2022, the film never made it to cinemas because of a prolonged dispute with India's film certification board.Despite its brief availability, Satluj received strong reviews. The Hollywood Reporter described it as "one of the finest Indian films of the year, external".The Indian Express quoted a spokesperson for RSVP Movies, the film's producer, as saying it was removed on government orders. The government has not publicly commented on the decision. The BBC has contacted the federal information and broadcasting ministry for a response.Dosanjh addressed the removal in a live social media video, saying he had expected the film to be taken down but not so quickly."My love and respect to all of you. What I had already expected is exactly what happened. I thought the film might get banned when [government] offices opened on Monday, but I didn't know it would happen as early as Sunday evening."Dosanjh said the uncertainty surrounding the film's release was why its makers had kept promotions to a minimum. "If we had promoted it, the film would definitely not have been released at all," he said.Despite its removal, Dosanjh said he was glad audiences had finally been able to watch the film after years of delays.Inspired by Khalra's life, the film follows an activist investigating alleged human rights abuses during Punjab's separatist insurgency, one of the bloodiest chapters in modern Indian history.From the early 1980s to the mid-1990s, Sikh militants seeking an independent state of Khalistan fought Indian security forces in an insurgency that killed thousands. As the government intensified its crackdown, human rights groups accused security forces of arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings. The authorities denied the allegations, saying tough measures were needed to end the insurgency, which had largely subsided by the mid-1990s.Khalra investigated allegations that many victims had been secretly cremated without their families' knowledge or proper records being kept. He disappeared in 1995 and was later found to have been abducted and murdered. Several Punjab police officers were later convicted over his abduction and killing.The film has had an unusually long and difficult journey to release. It was originally titled, external Ghallughara, a Punjabi term associated with some of the darkest episodes in Sikh history. It refers to the mass killings of Sikhs by Mughal forces in 1746 and by the forces of Afghan ruler Ahmad Shah Durrani in 1762.Director Honey Trehan has said India's Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), the government body that certifies films for public exhibition in cinemas, asked the filmmakers to change the title during the certification process but did not explain its reasons publicly.The film was later retitled Punjab '95 - a reference to the year Khalra disappeared.The film was due to premiere at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival, but the producers withdrew it , externalwhile certification issues in India remained unresolved. The festival did not publicly link the withdrawal to the certification dispute.The dispute centred on a long list of changes s
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