The removal of Diljit Dosanjh’s film ‘Satluj’ from Zee5 has now drawn a formal response from RTI activist and MP Saket Gokhale, who has written directly to the government questioning the decision.
Directed by Honey Trehan, Satluj was released on Zee5 on Friday. By Sunday evening, it had already been taken down from the platform, leaving many confused about why a film centered on human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra had been pulled so quickly.
Also Read: Explained: ‘Satluj’ pulled from Zee5, here’s everything that led to this moment for the Diljit Dosanjh film
Gokhale’s letter to the government
Gokhale shared a copy of his letter addressed to Ashwini Vaishnaw, the Minister of Information and Broadcasting. In it, he mentioned that he had watched Satluj the day before an order, reportedly from the Ministry, forced Zee5 to remove it.
He urged the minister to watch the film himself, saying that doing so would help him understand the disservice being done to the country by banning it.
Why he believes the film matters
Gokhale described Satluj as a difficult watch for anyone unaware of what happened in Punjab in 1995. He said the film honours Jaswant Singh Khalra, a human rights figure who was killed for exposing extra-judicial killings and for trying to trace what happened to victims whose bodies were marked as unclaimed, while their families continue waiting for answers even today.
He called it unfathomable that such a film would be banned, especially when other countries have chosen to openly confront their own difficult histories. According to Gokhale, the events depicted in Satluj represent a human rights failure that implicates the broader system, not any single political party. He said the film relies on facts to show how certain individuals within the system carried out mass killings for personal gain.
A call to confront the past
Gokhale argued that Satluj forces viewers to confront uncomfortable parts of the country’s history and reflect on atrocities that occurred within its own borders. He said banning the film would not erase what happened, nor would it absolve anyone involved in what took place in Punjab.
Instead, he suggested that the conversation sparked by the film should serve as a starting point for addressing past wrongs, potentially opening the door to some form of healing.