Honey Trehan recently explained the careful plan employed to avoid a difficult four-year battle with the CBFC, releasing the Diljit Dosanjh-starrer ‘Satluj’ (previously called ‘Punjab 95’) directly online on Friday night, without cuts. But only about 105 minutes after the speech, the film was gone. The streamer released a statement saying the title has been removed and will not be available for viewing in India “until further notice.”
Honey Trehan how the secret digital drop was obtained
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter India, Trehan shared the details behind the film’s digital premiere. Asked how the entire release of such a secret, which no one knew until the announcement dropped on Friday, caused a lot of buzz online, Honey explained, “A huge amount of fast-paced heavy lifting took place behind closed doors between RSVP and ZEE. Frankly, a part of my brain couldn’t believe it was going to come out. I pray often, but you have built a blasphemous wall. Even at 6:00 PM on Friday, I messaged the team asking, “Is this happening tonight?” Apart from the core corporate team, the only person who knew about the drop was Diljit. After I hit ‘Send’ on my anxious RSVP text, a message flashed from Diljit Paaji saying, “Paaji, definitely going out tonight.” It was like pure telepathy. Big credit goes to ZEE for pulling it off; I have nothing but great respect for how they promoted it. “
Honey Trehan in RSVP’s long-standing relationship with the OTT platform
When asked when the discussions started with ZEE5, he shared, “ZEE5 has always been a fantastic partner for RSVP. We made Sonchiriya together under Macguffin and RSVP, and Kedarnath was also done with ZEE as a partner, so it’s a long-standing association. It is not just about one or two projects; they have deep, long-term business ties as smoothly part of their digital arrangements. But initially, we fully intended to release this movie in theaters. We want it to reach the audience on the big screen. Over time, however, roadblocks continue to multiply. It is an endless cycle of: “Cut this, delete that, alter this section.” The frustrating part is that I have not received any legitimate, logical explanation (from the CFBC) as to why these cuts are being requested.
Honey Trehan on the last call to go digital
Asked what ultimately pushed them towards the digital route, he said, “The responses we got lacked legitimacy. We waited, and then we approached the court, but nothing changed. During that long hiatus, Ronnie [Screwvala] sir, in tandem with ZEE, took the definitive call to go straight to digital. On streaming platforms, you don’t need a CBFC theater certificate. When ZEE came on board, they really loved the film and insisted that it should see the light of day. In a way, they adopted an abandoned child. The sheer amount of love and global goodwill the film has received since it dropped has been overwhelming. I haven’t even had time to shower today; My phone buzzed non-stop with people reacting to it. The audience celebrated this release more enthusiastically than I did, so it was very important for me to answer as many of them as possible.