50 Journalists, Film Critics Slam ZEE5 Removal Of Satluj In Open Letter

More than 50 journalists and film critics have issued a joint statement lashing out at the removal of director Honey Trehan's film Satluj from ZEE5 less than 48 hours after its release, terming the move a case of "executive overreach" and calling for transparency from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The open letter is addressed to Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister. 

The film is inspired by the life of human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra. It had been in limbo for over three years. The troubles with the CBFC began in 2022. The film was withdrawn from its planned premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2023 amid reports of political pressure, while its producers simultaneously challenged an order of 21 cuts imposed by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) before the Bombay High Court. The number welled up to 127. 

"The film's uncut release on ZEE5 was possible because it didn't need CBFC approval in the first place. That this film could still be taken down through a separate government mechanism is a form of executive overreach. That this can happen 18 months after the film's international release was halted points to a sustained effort to keep Satluj from reaching audiences," the signatories emphasised. The signatories also insisted that the CBFC and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting have rarely responded to journalistic inquiries regarding the film, contending that "such opacity doesn't do much to inspire confidence among good-faith stakeholders."

"We register our concern at the continuing erosion of due process for filmmakers navigating India's certification and streaming regulatory framework and call for transparency from the MIB regarding the legal basis for this removal," read the statement.

The group also called on the ministry to make public the findings of the Inter-Departmental Committee constituted to review the film and expressed solidarity with Honey Trehan, the cast, crew and producers of Satluj. "We register our concern at the continuing erosion of due process for filmmakers navigating India's certification and streaming regulatory framework and call for transparency from the MIB regarding the legal basis for this removal," the statement stressed. 

Gurudwara committees across India have organised community screenings of the film. Harmeet Singh Kalka, president of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) backed the screening initiative and voiced his thoughts on ban, exhorting the OTT platform to retrieve the film. 

Full Text Of The Letter

Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw,

Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, New Delhi

July 10, 2026

We, the undersigned journalists and film critics, express our alarm at the abrupt removal of director Honey Trehan’s Satluj from ZEE5 in India, less than 48 hours after its release.

Satluj — starring Diljit Dosanjh, Kanwaljit Singh, Arjun Rampal, Suvinder Vicky, Geetika Vidya Ohlyan and inspired by the life of human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra — began streaming on ZEE5 from the evening of Friday, July 3, 2026. By Sunday evening, July 5, it had been pulled from the platform’s India catalogue, with ZEE5 stating the film would be “unavailable until further notice.”

This is not a new story. The film, formerly titled Punjab ’95, was withdrawn from its planned premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2023, amid reports that political considerations influenced the decision. Around the same time, its producers were contesting an initial Central Board for Film Certification (CBFC) order of 21 cuts in the Bombay High Court. Over the following years, as the film was sent to the CBFC’s revising committee and resubmitted through multiple rounds, the number of cuts rose first to 85, then finally to 127. These demands came from a body whose statutory mandate under the Cinematograph Act, 1952, is to certify films for exhibition, not to censor them.

No law in India requires a film releasing directly on OTT platforms to hold CBFC certification. The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (MI&B) confirmed this in a written reply in the Lok Sabha on December 17, 2025, stating that OTT content falls outside the CBFC’s jurisdiction and is instead governed by the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. The film’s uncut release on ZEE5 was possible because it didn’t need CBFC approval in the first place. That this film could still be taken down through a separate government mechanism is a form of Executive overreach. That this can happen 18 months after the film’s international release was halted points to a sustained effort to keep Satluj from reaching audiences.

This entire fight has also unfolded after the Union government scrapped the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT) in 2021, folding its appellate functions into the already overburdened High Courts. What was once a dedicated avenue of appeal for filmmakers no longer exists.

Filmmakers are pushed instead into lengthy and expensive High Court litigation, exactly the “endless cycle” Trehan has described, of demands to “cut this, delete that, alter this section,” without accompanying legal reasoning. On top of this, the CBFC and the MI&B have rarely responded to journalistic inquiries (including about Punjab ’95/Satluj). Such opacity doesn’t do much to inspire confidence among good-faith stakeholders.

We register our concern at the continuing erosion of due process for filmmakers navigating India’s certification and streaming regulatory framework and call for transparency from the MI&B regarding the legal basis for this removal.

We also firmly urge that the findings of the Inter-Departmental Committee constituted to review the film be made public.

We stand in solidarity with Honey Trehan, the cast, crew, and producers of Satluj.

Signed,

Aabha Muralidharan, Aditya Shrikrishna, Ajay Brahmatmaj, Akhil Arora, Aritry Das, Arun A.K., Arunima Joshua, Arshia Dhar, Asad Ali, Ashok Hegde, Avinash Ramachandran, Bedatri Datta Choudhury, B.H Harsh, Debanjan Dhar, Gopinath Rajendran, Ishita Sengupta, Jairaj Singh, Kaashif Hajee, Kartik Bhardwaj, Kirubhakar Purushothaman, Manik Sharma, Mohar Basu, Meenakshi Shedde, Namrata Joshi, Nawaid Anjum, Nayantara Mazumder, Poulomi Das, Pragya Mishra, Prathap Nair, Prathyush Parasuraman, Priyanka Roy, Priyanka Sharma, Rahul Desai, Rohan Naahar, Saachi D’Souza, Sahir Avik D’souza, Sangeetha Devi, Shilajit Mitra, Shreevatsa Nevatia, Shruti Sonal, Siddhant Adlakha, Siddhant Vashistha, Srikanth Srinivasan, S.R. Praveen, Suparna Sharma, Tanul Thakur, Tatsam Mukherjee, Virat Nehru, Vishal Menon, Zico Ghosh.