Diljit Dosanjh’s Satluj underwent 127 cuts before it could get the clearance to be released on an OTT platform. It was released on Zee5 but had to be taken just within hours of its release! The film has now been banned in India. I will talk about the ban and the controversy surrounding the movie, a different answer; let's talk about the movie first.
Directed by Honey Trehan, Satluj is about a human rights activist, Jaswant Singh Khalra from Punjab, whose role has been portrayed brilliantly by Diljit Dosanjh, who works as an ordinary banker, observes the horrifying and terrific things happening around him. Under the pretext of controlling militancy in Punjab, Punjab Police started to abduct people from the streets, even their homes and took them to police stations where they were beaten up and executed in fake encounters and later cremated. There are no FIRs reported, no records kept!
Khalra extensively researched close to 25,000 illegal extra judicial dths and cremations carried out by the Punjab Police during 1984 to 1994, and also the klng of approximately 2,000 police officers who refused to comply with the orders. In case you think that this movie is a piece of fiction or propaganda, you may ask anyone from Punjab who lived during that time. While trying to gather information about the mother of his friend who has gone missing, Khalra uncovers a deep conspiracy as he sees hundreds of unclaimed bodies being illegally burned at the government crematoriums.
The first half of the movie showed how Khalra conducted his investigation and tried to internationalise the issue after his own state government turned a blind eye towards it. The second half of the movie features Arjun Rampal, a Senior CBI Officer sent to investigate the disappearance of Khalra, which eventually exposes the deeper conspiracy within the Punjab Police. The movie also exposed the dirty work that super-cop KPS Gill did during this period. However, they had changed his name to Bitta in the movie.
Anyway, I would suggest you watch the movie if you can get a hold of it. This movie shows why the common people are afraid of approaching the police even today. The police aren't there to protect the victims and the helpless, it protects the government and those who are in power. Those who are trying to give it a Khalistani angle are only trying to badmouth the film without any facts. The movie has no mention of Khalistan or any anti-India statements. Instead, the movie is the perfect example of the saying, “When the protector becomes the predator.” It appeals to the world to recognise those who claim to be the Messiah of peace and prophets of democracy, but in reality, are nothing but suppressors of peace and silencers of democracy.