Some films are simply destined for a long fight. Honey Trehan’s Punjab ’95, which has been locked in a four-year battle with the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), recently glimpsed the light at the end of the tunnel. The film streamed on OTT platform Zee5 for two days before it was pulled down again, taking the makers back to square one.
To bypass the certification standoff, the Diljit Dosanjh-led Punjab ’95 was renamed Satluj and quietly released on the streaming platform with “No Cuts”. As the director had said in an earlier interview with NDTV, both Diljit Dosanjh and he had agreed to remove their names from the project if the CBFC’s demand for “127 cuts” was implemented. Having the uncut version available felt like half the battle won. Then the next battle began.
Since Satluj was removed from the platform, it has triggered political rows and drawn the ire of many in the film fraternity over what they call a grave injustice. For what? For showing the truth.
The biographical political drama Satluj traces the real-life crusade of human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, and the extraordinary state power and police brutality that escalated in Punjab during the 1990s insurgency. The film revisits the treacherous 1984 Sikh riots, not as a standalone event but as the catalyst that unleashed a cycle of killings and unrest. The tragedy paved the way for Punjab’s insurgency and a spate of disappearances in the late 1980s and 1990s.
There have been other films, such as Jogi and Punjab 1984, that have revisited this dark period, each telling a different story. What’s common, though, is Diljit Dosanjh leading them.
Early on Monday, Diljit hosted an Instagram Live to thank fans for their support.
He said, “You can trouble me as much as you want. I am with Punjab till the day I die. I want to do as many subjects on Punjab as possible. You don’t choose the subject, the subject chooses you.”
Here’s a look at some of the singer-actor’s films that brought back the terrors of the 1984 Anti-Sikh riots, to life again.
Satluj
What’s common in these films’ representation of the 1984 Punjab riots and their aftermath is the portrayal of state-backed atrocities rather than spontaneous communal violence.
In Satluj, director Honey Trehan paints a harrowing picture of the riots’ aftermath and intersperses it with the true story of whistleblower Jaswant Singh Khalra, played by Diljit Dosanjh. The film shows how rogue police units used the trauma of the riots to justify mass extrajudicial killings – mass cremation of thousands, a planned murder of sorts.
The plot highlights Khalra’s forensic investigation, where he used municipal firewood and cremation logs to expose systemic police atrocities. Khalra, who questioned staged police encounters, was abducted outside his Amritsar home in 1995 and killed – the price he paid for standing by the truth.
Jogi (2022)
Jogi depicted another facet of the anti-Sikh violence that erupted in Delhi after Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination on October 31, 1984. It showed how mobs targeted Sikh households, shops and individuals in neighbourhoods such as Trilokpuri, using official electoral registers and voters’ lists to locate victims.
The film exposed an unprecedented level of violence across northern India in response to the assassination.
Jogi explored human rights violations, mass mob brutality and the trauma of segregated communities where innocent Sikh lives were at risk. Victims were dragged into the streets, burned alive, or beaten mercilessly simply for being Sikh.
What was common was the police’s role as passive bystanders. The narrative does not shy away from showing how police and local people watched while criminals indulged in severe brutalities, with no regard for the consequences.
Interestingly, Jogi also starred Diljit Dosanjh in the lead, directed by Ali Abbas Zafar, it was available on Netflix globally from September 16, 2022. His character, alongside a Hindu police officer and a Muslim truck owner, worked to modify transport trucks and evacuate innocent Sikhs to Mohali, Punjab. The film captures the collapse of communal harmony and how ordinary people – regardless of faith – band together to protect others.
Punjab 1984 (2014)
Anurag Singh’s 2014 film Punjab 1984 links two major historical events and their devastating effects.
Set against a backdrop of state crackdowns and militancy, the film shows how ordinary rural families were caught between separatist militants and corrupt police forces.
The film addresses the wider impact of the 1984 Sikh riots that spiralled out of control and the unrest that settled within Punjab. It depicts orchestrated mobs targeting Sikh families, looting businesses and burning buildings amid the chaos.
The story balances societal and emotional tragedy. It centres on a mother’s (Kirron Kher) search for her wrongly accused missing son and on how young men were falsely branded as terrorists. Through the lens of an unbowed mother, Punjab’s brutality is revealed, showing how families were torn apart.
The film also highlights extrajudicial killings, depicting how youngsters were routinely rounded up and tortured in fake “police encounters”, and the daily struggle under curfews and checkpoints where one false accusation could destroy a family.
Once again, the film features Diljit Dosanjh as Shivjeet Singh Mann (Shiva). His mother, played by Kirron Kher, is grief-stricken and spends years searching for her son – a reflection of how deeply people were betrayed by the justice system.
With Honey Trehan’s Satluj once again making headlines for its struggle to be made available to Indian audiences, it prompts a revisit of films that have shown this painful past – and a reminder of why these stories matter for public awareness of our country’s history.
ALSO READ | Satluj Row: Censor Battle, Title Change, Quiet OTT Release To Removal
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