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Explained: Why was Diljit Dosanjh's 'Satluj' removed from OTT after just 48 hours?
From years of censorship battles to a sudden geo-block, here's everything you need to know about the controversy surrounding the biographical drama
- PUBLISHED: Mon 6 Jul 2026, 11:21 AM UPDATED: Tue 7 Jul 2026, 10:51 AM
The journey of Indian biographical thriller Satluj to viewers has been anything but straightforward. The Diljit Dosanjh-led human-rights drama finally surfaced on OTT last week after years in limbo, only to vanish from Indian screens in less than 48 hours.
Satluj began life as Ghallughara, then Punjab '95: a politically charged biopic inspired by Punjab human-rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, who exposed thousands of "unclaimed" bodies and alleged extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances of Sikhs in the 1980s–90s. The subject alone placed the film in the crosshairs of India’s censorship regime.
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Over the past four years, the project has been locked in a tug-of-war with the censor board, facing demands for a title change and extensive edits targeting its depiction of state violence. The makers challenged these requirements in court and the film skipped a conventional theatrical release, surfacing instead at festivals abroad under its earlier title.
A sudden OTT blackout
Late last week, the film finally appeared on ZEE5 in India under a new, neutral-sounding name, Satluj. But the viewers and critics quickly noted that the version online played like an uncut film, closer to the director’s original vision than to the heavily redacted version once demanded by censors.
Then, almost as abruptly as it arrived, the film disappeared. Within roughly two days, ZEE5 removed the title from its India catalogue, informing users that the film was "unavailable until further notice", citing unspecified "current developments".
Meanwhile, Satluj reportedly remains accessible on the platform’s global service outside India, underscoring that the blackout is geo-specific, not global.
Publicly, the platform insists it "stands by" the film and will pursue "due process" to restore it in India, but the opacity around what triggered the takedown has stirred industry unease.
Dosanjh, who plays the lead, has pointed out that viewers have already downloaded the film, suggesting that once a story is out, it is nearly impossible to contain. He also noted that Satluj has, in some ways, come to mirror the fate of Khalra himself — a man who faced resistance and, ultimately, an attempt to erase his story.
The film is directed by Honey Trehan, who brings his long-standing collaboration with some of Hindi cinema’s most distinctive storytellers to this charged material.
Before stepping behind the camera for his acclaimed directorial debut Raat Akeli Hai, Trehan worked closely with Vishal Bhardwaj and Abhishek Chaubey on titles like Maqbool, Omkara, Udta Punjab, and helped shape films such as Talvar and A Death in the Gunj as a creative producer and casting mind.
