Diljit Dosanjh’s ‘Satluj’ Pulled From India by ZEE5 Two Days After Release, Platform Says Film ‘Unavailable Until Further Notice’
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- ZEE5 removed "Satluj" from its Indian catalogue less than 48 hours after the film's July 3 premiere, stating the title is "unavailable in India until further notice" without specifying a reason for the pull
- "Satluj" remains available on ZEE5 Global for international audiences, with the platform saying it remains "committed to exploring every appropriate avenue through due process to bring the film back" in India
- Diljit Dosanjh plays Jaswant Singh Khalra, who spent decades pursuing justice for more than 25,000 people who disappeared during Punjab's insurgency-era crackdowns, in a cast that also includes Arjun Rampal, Suvinder Vicky, and Geetika Vidya Ohlyan
- The film cycled through three titles and a three-year fight with India's Central Board of Film Certification, which initially cleared it only after requiring 21 cuts and a forced rename from "Ghallughara" to "Punjab '95"
- Director Honey Trehan said the version now streaming on ZEE5 Global is the complete film "without any cuts or compromises, in its original form as we always intended," produced by RSVP and MacGuffin Pictures
- The 2023 Toronto International Film Festival also dropped the film from its planned gala premiere; a source told Variety at the time that political factors were involved in that decision
Why it matters: Three years, three title changes, 21 mandated censor cuts, a dropped TIFF gala, and now a same-week India-only pull all converge on a single subject: Sikh disappearances during Punjab's insurgency. With the film streaming freely worldwide via ZEE5 Global but excised from its intended domestic audience, the creators are effectively split-screen censored — a structural outcome that matters more than any single removal.
