Two days after it released without any fanfare on OTT, Honey Trehan’s controversial film Satluj (earlier titled Punjab 95) has now been pulled down from the streaming service. The film, which was stuck in a limbo at the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) for over three years, silently premiered on ZEE5 on Friday night but was removed from the service on Sunday night. The makers had stated that an uncut version of the film had been released.
The streaming service shared a note on their social media handle expressing gratefulness over the response received by the film. “The response to Satluj since its release has been truly overwhelming. We are deeply grateful to every viewer who chose to subscribe, watch and champion the film. Your love and support have meant a great deal to us and to everyone who brought this story to life,” it read.
“At Zee 5, we stand firmly by Satluj and the creative vision behind it. We believe powerful storytelling has the ability to inspire, endure and leave a lasting impact. We remain committed to championing authentic and meaningful narratives,” it added.
The streaming platform then went on to say that the film will be unavailable in the country until further notice. It didn’t give a conclusive reason for the decision. “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.”
They concluded by saying, “Our commitment to creators and to stories told with conviction, artistic integrity and purpose remains unwavering.”
Satluj is a biopic of human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra who shed light on Punjab police's ectra-judicial killing of about 25,000 people at the time of insurgency in the state. It stars Diljit Dosanjh, Arjun Rampal and Suvinder Vicky, amongst others.
The film was stuck with the CBFC for many years with many reports stating that the censor board had asked for about 120 cuts in the movie with other changes including not taking names of states, cities and some people it is based on. The makers had also appealed to the High Court against CBFC’s decision. In an interview with Hindu Frontline, when Honey was asked if the CBFC’s approach was “politically motivated” he had said, “Yes, absolutely…These people [CBFC] don’t have any legitimate answers. It seems they too are being dictated by somebody. There are people in power who are trying to probably use CBFC as a backdoor entry to the film industry to control the freedom of speech and freedom of expression so they can control the narrative according to whatever their political agenda is.”
