Overview
- ZEE5 streamed the uncut biopic Satluj about Jaswant Singh Khalra on Friday and removed it from its India catalogue 48 hours later, saying the film would be unavailable in India due to “current developments.”
- The platform said it was exploring every appropriate avenue to restore the title but did not disclose any legal or administrative order as the reason for the takedown.
- The film remains available on ZEE5’s international service while politicians and activists, including Rajya Sabha MP Saket Gokhale, have publicly sought answers and alleged a Ministry of Information and Broadcasting role in the removal.
- Lead actor Diljit Dosanjh urged viewers to copy and share the movie before it vanished and pirated copies began circulating online, prompting ZEE5 to warn audiences not to support piracy.
- Satluj’s short run follows years of certification battles with the Central Board of Film Certification, a cancelled festival premiere and repeated release delays, keeping the dispute centered on censorship, platform responsibility and contested memory of violence in 1980s–90s Punjab.