Honey Trehan’s “Satluj” — about a Sikh activist in the 1990s investigating extrajudicial killings — conjures heavy emotions despite its hagiographic hues. Just as intriguing as its provocations are the controversies surrounding its release, starting with its unexplained removal from the Toronto International Film Festival lineup in 2023, then under the title “Punjab ’95.” This year, it finally evaded India’s censors on July 3rd, with a global digital release on the Indian streaming platform Zee5, though it was pulled for Indian viewers within 48 hours, and for international audiences the following week. However, this seemingly ancillary drama is central to the film’s mission statement, as an exposé of power and its suppression of truth.
In a gloomy prologue, casual conversations between Punjab police officers precipitate equally casual executions by moonlight, under the pretext of curbing terror. Soon, the focus switches to an ordinary bank manager, Jaswant Singh Khalra (played by pop star Diljit Dosanjh), whose kindly demeanor sets him on a collision course with corrupt and dangerous forces. When an elderly aunt goes missing (after the police killing of her own husband), Khalra is driven to trace her whereabouts, though he ends up pulling on more threads than he bargained for.
