The turbulence around Satluj has deepened fast. Just days after the Diljit Dosanjh-starrer briefly surfaced on ZEE5, the film is no longer available in the platform’s international library either, extending a controversy that had already exploded when it was abruptly taken down in India within 48 hours of release.
What looked, for a moment, like a partial lifeline for viewers outside India has now closed too. After vanishing domestically, Satluj remained accessible overseas only briefly before disappearing there as well, a move that Honey Trehan confirmed with a single-word response: “Yes.”
Overseas Pullout Sparks Fresh Viewer Backlash
The international removal quickly set off another round of online reaction, with viewers outside India flagging that the film had vanished from their watchlists as well. Social media posts and discussion threads soon turned into a running record of audience frustration, disbelief, and defiance.
The backlash also carried a clear sense that the takedown was only amplifying curiosity around the film. One user wrote, “They’re making it more popular by banning it everywhere. I have non-Punjabi friends who only heard about it after the ban and are watching it as a result.” Another commented, “Just checked yes, it’s not available anymore. The movie is out already, they can’t stop it. people have been sending it to each other already. someone put it on YouTube. But I feel bad for the sincere effort of the filmmakers, they deserved to earn a dime out of it.”
One post read, “So it’s been removed internationally as well.” A Reddit user also wrote, “Satluj has now been removed from Zee5 internationally as well. As the title says, Satluj is no longer available on Zee5 outside of India.” The same user added, “Edit: I know it is available via other platforms/methods. The post is meant to highlight the fact that efforts to censor and remove the film are still ongoing. They didn’t stop at just removing the film within India, but instead have continued to apply pressure until the film was removed in international markets as well.”
A Release Battle That Refuses To End
After the India takedown, ZEE5 had said, “In light of the current developments, Satluj will be unavailable in India until further notice. We remain committed to exploring every appropriate avenue through due process to bring the film back to our audiences at the earliest opportunity.”
An official spokesperson for the producers also stated, “The government has pulled it down,” while adding that the team hoped the film would return “hopefully soon.”
The film, earlier titled Punjab 95, was submitted to the CBFC in 2022 and became entangled in a prolonged censorship battle over proposed cuts. Trehan had also spoken about the uncertainty around the objections, saying, “If somebody asks me who had a problem with the film, I genuinely don’t know. I don’t have a face. I don’t have a name. Everything came through third persons or lawyers.”
Why Satluj Stands Out In Diljit Dosanjh’s Filmography
That bruising fight over access is also what gives Satluj its larger place in Diljit Dosanjh’s career. Beyond the takedowns and platform drama, the film has come to stand as one of the actor’s most politically charged and artistically weighty projects, which is why every new development around it lands far beyond a routine OTT update.
Based on the life of human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, Satluj was directed by Honey Trehan and produced by Ronnie Screwvala, Abhishek Chaubey, and Trehan under RSVP Movies and MacGuffin Pictures. The cast also includes Arjun Rampal, Kanwaljit Singh, Suvinder Vicky, and Geetika Vidya Ohlyan. Rather than functioning as just another release in Dosanjh’s slate, the film has come to represent a rare collision of star power, political storytelling, and a bruising censorship struggle, which is precisely why each takedown has drawn such intense attention.
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