Satluj is becoming a cult classic
- Jul 10
- 5 min read
People are taking projectors into villages across Punjab and organising screenings. Just as volunteers perform seva during Gurpurab by serving langar, they are sharing this film with the same sense of collective responsibility. Now, Satluj, the film, will not only be seen. It will be remembered by generations to come.
\By Divya Trivedi in Delhi
I watched the 2 hours and 43 minutes long film Satluj in one sitting. Not once did it feel slow or long. It is a gripping, quietly devastating biopic of one of Punjab’s foremost human rights activists, Jaswant Singh Khalra, who was disappeared after he began to ask uncomfortable questions about enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings and the clandestine cremation of more than 25,000 bodies labelled “unclaimed” during Punjab’s tumultuous counter-insurgency years of the 1990s.
Directed by Honey Trehan, the film is terrifying -- menacing without its characters ever raising their voices or resorting to gruesome violence. It unfolds through acts of every day intimidations, wry threats, hushed morgue scenes and the silent testimony of crematorium registers. It is a subtle masterpiece, and resurrects an important chapter of Punjab’s history.
I felt the weight of the film long after I had finished watching it.
Singer-actor Diljit Dosanjh, who plays Jaswant Singh Khalra, is a revelation. Restrained is a word many reviewers have used to praise his performance, which is exceptional, and hits all the right notes. The supporting cast is equally impressive.
Kanwaljit Singh makes a comeback as DGP Inderpal Singh Bitta, who is seemingly modelled on the controversial cop KPS Gill. Whether intentional or coincidental, Kanwaljit had also played a character inspired by KPS Gill in Gulzar’s Maachis.
Suvinder Vicky is evil personified as Sugga, while Geetika Vidya Ohlyan as Paramjit, is stoic and brings a quiet dignity to the storyline. Arjun Rampal delivers a measured performance as CBI inspector, while Varun Badola as the lawyer, more than holds his own in a cast of great actors.
I wish I were writing a more detailed review of the film and the history it recounts, but what has transpired since its release, forces me to write about censorship in contemporary India. (How certain films are promoted and backed, and how films like Satluj face such prolong and endless difficulties.)
Even before the film’s release, which was originally titled Punjab 95, it had to grapple with the Central Board of Film Certification, which suggested, reportedly, around 127 cuts. The filmmakers refused.
Four years later, they quietly released the film on the OTT platform Zee5 without any cuts, but with a name change. Jaswant Singh Khalra’s widow, Paramjit Kaur Khalra, welcomed the release, saying that despite immense pressure and repeated attempts to force changes, the film’s original spirit and truth had been preserved.
Within 48 hours of its release, Zee5 removed the film from its platform. Its statement was curious. The platform said that it stood by the film but due to “current developments”, it was making the film unavailable in India. The statement concluded with an irony that was perhaps unintended, “Satluj may have paused. But the conversation it started hasn’t,” adding that the platform would explore every appropriate avenue to bring it back.
Apparently, terms like “national security” and “anti-India forces” have been bandied about to justify the ban. Yet the circumstances surrounding the ban remain vague.
Who objected to it, and its release?
Who ordered its takedown, and on what grounds?
The film is neither anti-establishment nor critical of the present dispensation. If anything, it portrays the Congress government of the time in poor light and the CBI in a favourable one.
So, why was it stopped?
Unless the very act of revisiting an uncomfortable chapter of history is now seen as a threat! Indeed, it seems, any narrative contrary to the current status quo, must be removed from the public sphere.
Adding more confusion to the matter, sections of the Punjab media have quoted Punjab BJP chief Kewal Dhillon as saying that the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, the very ones who are being held responsible for the removal of the film, have constituted a three-member committee to review the circumstances behind the removal of the film. The film shows the assassination of Congress leader Beant Singh. Dhillon said the Centre had acted on an appeal submitted by his grandson, Bittu.
Kafkaesque is an understatement.
However, removing the film from Zee5 has done little to prevent people from watching it. If anything, Satluj demonstrates that while institutions can regulate mainstream platforms, those platforms are no longer the sole gatekeepers of public culture.
From Whatsapp links to public screenings organised by rights groups and ordinary citizens across Delhi, Punjab and Rajasthan (including in London, etc), the film has taken a life of its own. Social media is flooded with visuals of packed screenings.
Hours after the film was removed, Diljit Dosanjh went live on Instagram and encouraged fans to watch it through downloaded copies, openly challenging the authorities to remove it from the internet. “Lo kar lo block (block it if you dare) -- everyone has the film downloaded. Every home is talking about Khalra ji.” he reportedly said.
The Sri Akal Takht Sahib Jathedar has called for special prayers on the banks of the Sutlej river at Harike Pattan on July 14. During the 1990s, it was here that the bodies of hundreds of innocent Punjabis were allegedly dumped after extrajudicial killings.
Rather than feeling dejected, I am elated by this turn of events. More people will watch the film. It will become a cult classic. On an OTT platform, it would likely have disappeared amid the flood of countless other films and shows.
Now, Satluj, the film, will be remembered.
People are taking projectors into villages across Punjab and organising screenings. Just as volunteers perform seva during Gurpurab by serving langar, they are sharing this film with the same sense of collective responsibility.
Meanwhile, Sharwan Singh has filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking restoration of the film on Zee5, arguing that its withdrawal was carried out without disclosure of any statutory, judicial or governmental order.
In trying to censor the film, the authorities have exposed the limits of censorship.
The actor. The fans. The community. They have collectively subverted censorship. Whether Right-wing or Left-wing, the people of Punjab appear remarkably united on ensuring that this story continues to be shared.
What saddens me, however, is the larger climate in which this unfolds. The ecosystem of fear and self-censorship that has taken root over the years of Modi’s rule leaves one wondering how many stories will never be told because artists have already internalised the limits of what may be said.
That is a far greater tragedy than the temporary disappearance of a single film. It leaves me wondering whether this increasingly soulless political climate will drain the life from our future generations -- not only by eroding memory and historical reckoning, but by diminishing creativity itself.
For now, the story of Satluj stands as a bulwark against unchecked state power and impunity. It is also a story about courage -- about how a handful of people with conscience refuse to look away, bear witness, and hold the powerful perpetrators accountable and bring them to justice.
In the end, that is what gives the film its enduring power.
Divya Trivedi is a Delhi-based journalist who has worked for nearly two decades with The Hindu and Frontline.
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‘Guns may shoot, and knives may carve, but we won’t wear your silly scarves’