The ongoing censorship war around Diljit DosanjhHuman rights biopic ‘Satluj’ took an explosive turn. Acclaimed director and actor Anurag Kashyap officially expressed his displeasure at the central government’s sudden decision to implement a digital blackout on the film, pointing out that administrative restrictions ultimately backfired by fueling public intrigue. Sharing his initial reaction through his official Instagram stories, Kashyap reposted ZEE5’s formal announcement regarding the temporary suspension of the Indian title.
Anurag Kashyap tells fans to watch ‘Satluj’ even if it is on OTT: or not:
The famous actor and filmmaker shared his thoughts on the ongoing ‘Satluj’ controversy and shared that he stands by the fact that the film should be released. Initially, he took to his Instagram stories to share a post from the hosting OTT platform, announcing that as of now, ‘Satluj’ is not available online on their platform.Kashyap posted the statement with his own caption that read, “The thing about banning something is that the more you ban something, the more people want to watch it. I didn’t even plan to watch this film, but now I have to watch it to understand why it was banned.”Later, he posted another story showing an edit from the film shared by a fan online. In the screengrab, the scene shows Arjun Rampal on the cover, along with the words “This scene is the main reason for removing the movie from OTT.” The filmmaker also urged the public to watch the film even if it is available on any OTT platform, saying they should watch it even if they have to get their hands on the pirated version. He added, “Plz sab log dekho, pirate karo par dekho” (Please, watch everything—pirate it if you have to, but watch it).
About ‘Satluj’
Set around the 1990s during the Punjab insurgency, the film follows the life of activist Jaswant Singh Khalra who investigates and collects evidence of thousands of illegal cremations and human rights violations of the time, along with their connection to corrupt police personnel. Diljit Dosanjh plays the lead in the film, which also stars Arjun Rampal, Kanwaljit Singh, Suvinder Vicky and Geetika Vidya Ohlyan.The film was shelved for about 3 to 4 years due to certification issues from the CBFC. Earlier reports suggested that filmmaker Honey Trehan was advised by the board to make more than 120 cuts in the final cut of the film. The uncut version was released online on ZEE5 recently; however, within 48 hours, it was removed from the portal until further notice.
The Center said that ‘Satluj’ was released without completing the certification process
ANI recently reported that the film has not been cleared by the certification board, which is why it has been pulled from India for now. A statement further shared that, “Satluj does not have the required certification for a theatrical release. Instead of following the certification process, the makers changed the title of the film and released it on an OTT platform on Friday.”Earlier, Diljit Dosanjh had commented in his latest live session about the possibility of removing the film from the platform, which came true just a few hours ago. In the same live, he shared that while he’s disappointed with everything, he’s still happy with the response the film has gotten and that he’s been watching videos shared by fans online.