Diljit Dosanjh’s much-delayed film Satluj has become the biggest OTT flashpoint of the week, after it was pulled from ZEE5 India within roughly 48 hours of its release. The move has reignited debate, with some critising how streaming platforms handle politically sensitive stories, and others pointing out the overreach of censorship.
Mired in controversy
The film traces the life of Jaswant Singh Khalra, the Sikh human rights activist who investigated the mass, unexplained cremation of thousands of bodies by Punjab Police during the militancy years of the 1980s and 90s. Khalra himself disappeared in 1995 after being taken into police custody, a case that later led to the conviction of several police personnel. Directed by Honey Trehan and produced by Ronnie Screwvala’s RSVP along with MacGuffin Pictures, the project has had an unusually long and difficult journey to the screen.
It has carried three different titles along the way. It began as Ghallughara, a word tied to historic massacres of Sikhs, before becoming Punjab ’95 and finally Satluj, named after the river that runs through the state. That journey reflects nearly four years of tussling with the Central Board of Film Certification, which reportedly asked for as many as 127 cuts. Among the changes demanded were a reduction in the stated death toll from 25,000 to 4,000, the removal of references to specific Punjab districts, and the deletion of phrases like human rights and extrajudicial killings.
Rather than accept those changes, the makers skipped a theatrical release altogether and took the uncut version straight to ZEE5, where it premiered on 3 July. Dosanjh was categorical that nothing had been altered, saying the version he watched at home was identical to the one shown in festivals two years earlier.
The relief was short-lived. By 5 July, ZEE5 had withdrawn Satluj from its Indian catalogue, citing only current developments without further explanation. The film remains available internationally on ZEE5 Global, which has only sharpened questions about why Indian audiences alone have been cut off.
Dosanjh weighs in
Dosanjh, who plays Khalra, responded on Instagram Live, drawing a pointed parallel between the film’s fate and that of the man it depicts. He said the team had expected the takedown and had quietly encouraged fans to stream and download the film over the weekend before it disappeared.
That encouragement, intentional or not, appears to have fed a piracy problem. With the film circulating online after its removal, ZEE5 issued a statement addressing the leak directly. The platform said it remained hopeful of bringing the film back and asked viewers not to support piracy, adding that it was committed to exploring every possible avenue to restore Satluj for Indian audiences.
The episode fits a wider pattern in Indian film certification, where projects dealing with state or security force conduct tend to face the heaviest resistance, regardless of how they eventually reach audiences. Streaming platforms are not required to seek CBFC certification the way theatrical releases are, which is precisely why Satluj’s makers chose OTT. But that same lack of formal clearance appears to have left ZEE5 exposed once the uncut version went live, prompting a swift withdrawal to avoid legal or administrative complications.
For now, Satluj sits in limbo in India, available nowhere legally, while its story, and the questions it raises about censorship, memory and accountability, continue to circulate well beyond the platform that first hosted it.
