00:10That was Diljeet Dasan's reaction after his film Satluch suddenly disappeared from Z5.
00:15The crazy part, he had already predicted it.
00:18Before the release, Diljeet had joked.
00:23And that's exactly what happened.
00:25Just two days after his release, Satluch was gone.
00:27So why did this film have such a short life on OTT?
00:31To answer that, we need to go back to more than 30 years.
00:34Satluch is based on the life of Jaswan Singh Khalra, a human rights activist who uncovered what he said was
00:39one of the darkest chapters in Punjab's history.
00:41In the 1990s, Khalra alleged that thousands of unidentified bodies had been secretly cremated during the state's battle against militancy.
00:49His investigation accused sections of Punjab police of illegal killings and enforced disappearances.
00:55Months later, Khalra himself was abducted and murdered.
00:58Years later, several police officials were convicted for his killing.
01:02That's why this film has been controversial from day one.
01:05It was first called Ghalughara, then Punjab 95 and finally released as Satluch.
01:09But the title wasn't the only thing that changed.
01:11According to the filmmakers, the CBFC wanted 127 cuts from references to the Punjab police and real events to several
01:19scenes showing violence from that period.
01:21The makers refused, saying the story could not be told if it was stripped of its context.
01:26What followed was a three-year battle.
01:28The film missed its Toronto International Film Festival premiere, never made it to theatres and remained stuck in limbo.
01:34Then, on July 3rd, it finally landed on Z5.
01:37Diljeet proudly announced that the film had been released without a single cut, only under a different title.
01:43But the celebration didn't last.
01:45Within 48 hours, Z5 took the film down in India, saying it was exploring legal options after recent developments.
01:51The platform hasn't revealed exactly what those developments are.
01:55Which brings us back to Diljeet.
01:57While everyone else was asking where the film had gone, he simply smiled and said,
02:01But the fact that the film has reached the end of the film, the film has also downloaded the film.
02:09No.
Comments