Satluj Screening: Banned in 48 Hours, Satluj Now Playing in Every Punjab Village
Satluj Screening: ZEE5 pulled Satluj days after release. Here’s the full timeline — from the ban to village screenings to SAD’s state-wide campaign.
North Desk Correspondent
Chandigarh, July 9
Diljit Dosanjh’s film “Satluj,” based on the life of human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, was pulled from ZEE5 in India less than 48 hours after it started streaming. Here’s the full timeline, and why it now matters for Punjab politics ahead of the February elections.
July 3: The film finally releases
Satluj premiered on ZEE5 India on July 3, uncut. The film had waited nearly four years for this moment; it was first submitted to the CBFC in late 2022 under the title “Punjab ’95,” and went through a long certification fight before release.
July 5: ZEE5 pulls it down
Just two days later, on Sunday evening, ZEE5 announced the film’s removal from its Indian catalogue. The platform gave no clear reason, citing only “current developments,” and said it would stay unavailable “until further notice.” The film remains available outside India on ZEE5 Global.
Diljit Dosanjh said he wasn’t surprised. He said he had sensed the ban coming and had deliberately avoided promoting the film beforehand, so it couldn’t be blocked before release.
July 7: Reactions begin
Co-writer Niren Bhatt questioned why films like “The Kashmir Files” can stream freely while Satluj can’t.
Congress MLA Sukhpal Khaira criticized the removal.
The Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) announced it would organise its own public screenings and told gurdwara committees to download and screen the film to keep Khalra’s story reaching people.
July 8: Villages start Satluj Screening
Satluj Screening: Downloaded copies began spreading through WhatsApp and Telegram. Public screenings using projectors and big screens started in gurdwara courtyards across Majha — including Pandori (Amritsar), Shekhupura and Panjwar (Gurdaspur), and villages in Tarn Taran. Akali Dal Waris Punjab De cadre organised several of these.
July 9: Political parties step in formally
Waris Punjab De petitioned Punjab Governor Gulab Chand Kataria, pushing for the ban to be lifted.
Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal directed the entire party, every worker, office bearer, and leader, to screen Satluj “in every nook and corner of every village, town and city of Punjab.”
Union Minister Ravneet Bittu, defending his grandfather Beant Singh’s legacy, calls the film a “one-sided narrative” and asking why the government hasn’t been questioned about the full context of the militancy years.
No official reason has been given for the ban — not by ZEE5, not by the CBFC, not by any government order. In that silence, several groups have stepped in with their own versions of what the film means: DSGMC and Waris Punjab De call it Sikh history being suppressed; SAD is turning it into an election-season campaign; Bittu is using it to defend his family’s political legacy.
With Punjab elections due in February, all of this is happening in an environment where the past is once again becoming a live political argument.
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KHALRA FILES: North Desk
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