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Punjab ’95 was delayed by a years-long dispute over certification in India. Director Honey Trehan said the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) repeatedly sought cuts that would change important names, images and details in the film, and that the filmmakers would not accept a version they considered compromised. The film later appeared briefly on ZEE5 in July 2026 under the title Satluj, then disappeared from viewing in India two days later. The reason for that removal has not been publicly established.
Why was Punjab ’95 held up?
The central obstacle was a prolonged certification dispute with India’s CBFC. The film, directed by Honey Trehan and starring Diljit Dosanjh as human-rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, entered the certification process after it was submitted in December 2022, according to later reporting.
Trehan described repeated rounds of proposed changes. He said he initially made 21 cuts, reluctantly, in the hope that the film would not become stuck in the process. Further submissions brought more demands. In a 2025 account, The Indian Express reported his estimate that the tally had reached about 127 cuts; in a 2026 interview with The Hollywood Reporter India, he described the final count as upwards of 127. These are figures from the director’s account, not independently verified totals from a published CBFC order.
Trehan said the requested changes included altering Khalra’s name, removing Indian-flag imagery and Gurbani audio, avoiding the name Punjab Police, deleting named locations where bodies were found, and changing the film’s title. He summarized the demands to The Indian Express: “Change Khalra’s name. Drop any visuals of the Indian flag. Take out all sounds of the ‘gurbani’. Don’t say Punjab police, when it is clearly the state police in turbans that’s on screen. Take out the names of the places mentioned in the film where the bodies were discovered in the morgue. And change the name of the film. What is left then?”
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Trehan also said that formal explanations were not provided for some demands. In a 2026 interview, he said he was not receiving “any legitimate, logical explanations” for the cuts. Those statements describe the director’s experience of the process; the available reporting does not reproduce a full official CBFC order explaining each request.
Why did the TIFF premiere fall through?
Punjab ’95 was expected to premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2023. The filmmakers withdrew the screening after, according to reporting, Indian authorities told them the film had to be pulled. The planned premiere therefore did not go ahead while the certification dispute remained unresolved.
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A proposed international release in early 2025 also failed to materialize. The film’s absence from those release plans reflected the unresolved dispute, rather than a single publicly documented decision that explains every delay.
What is the film about, and what can be said about the dispute’s cause?
The film tells the story of Jaswant Singh Khalra, a human-rights activist who investigated disappearances and alleged extrajudicial killings in Punjab during the 1980s and early 1990s. That subject provides important context for understanding why the film’s specific names and details matter to its director.
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But context is not proof of the CBFC’s formal rationale. The reporting available does not establish that the film’s subject was officially cited as the reason for the requested cuts, nor does it establish a government motive. The well-supported explanation for the delay is narrower: the board sought changes, the filmmakers objected to changes they believed would undermine the film, and certification remained unresolved for years.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Did Punjab ’95 eventually come out?
Yes, briefly. In July 2026, the film debuted on ZEE5 under the title Satluj, without cuts. Two days later it was removed from viewing in India. ZEE5 said the title would no longer be available in India “in light of current developments” and that it would pursue appropriate avenues through due process to restore it.
The removal’s precise official basis remains unclear. The Associated Press reported that the government had not publicly explained it, while officials told local media the removal had been ordered on security grounds. That report about what officials told local media is not the same as a publicly stated legal or administrative explanation. The film’s brief appearance means that “hasn’t seen light of day” is now out of date; its availability in India after the removal is not established here.
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