‘Trying to bring it back’: ZEE5 urges viewers to wait for Diljit Dosanjh-starrer Satluj’s comeback

4 min readNew DelhiJul 6, 2026 05:07 PM IST

Diljit Dosanjh’s controversial film Satluj has been making headlines, following its removal from Zee5, days after its sudden release. The film, which was previously titled Panjab ’95, now has pirated versions circulating on the internet. During a recent live session on Instagram, Diljit urged fans to spread the downloaded film as much as possible so that more people can watch it. However, now, the OTT platform ZEE5 requested viewers to not support piracy.

Taking to this Instagram handle, the streaming platform wrote, “We are doing our bit to bring Satluj back. Please do yours – Don’t support piracy.” The caption under the post read, “We are hopeful and doing everything we can. Please do not support piracy. We remain committed to exploring every possible avenue to bring Satluj back to you.”

Diljit Dosanjh on Satluj’s controversy

Diljit Dosanjh is playing the lead role of late human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra in Satluj. The singer-actor did a long live session on Instagram on Monday morning. During the segment, be addressed the ongoing controversy around his delayed film and its removal from ZEE5. “It is not a shock to me. I have had it in mind since Friday. I thought that once offices will open on Monday, then the film will be banned, but it will happen on Sunday evening only, that I didn’t expect. All this has been going on since day one, that’s why we couldn’t even promote the film,” he said.

He defied the ban and continued, “It’s good that you downloaded it, I already gave a heads-up about this earlier. I saw this coming already. Always listen to my hints. Honey paaji has worked really hard. He has done a big favour for us by making such a beautiful film. Wherever you see him, I want you to thank him. Lo kar lo block (block if you want), everyone has the film downloaded with them. What will you do now?”

ALSO READ | Satluj movie review: Diljit Dosanjh’s performance gives this film its strength

Honey Trehan spoke about Satluj

Meanwhile, hours before Satluj was made unavailable in India, director Honey Trehan had opened up about the film’s digital premiere on ZEE5. “A massive amount of swift operational heavy lifting was happening behind closed doors between RSVP and ZEE. To be frank, a part of my brain had lost faith that it would ever come out. I was praying constantly, but you build a cynical wall. Even at 6:00 PM on Friday, I messaged the team asking, ‘Is this actually happening tonight?'” he shared.

The director further added, “Apart from the core corporate team, the only person who knew about the drop was Diljit. Right after I pressed ‘Send’ on my anxious text to RSVP, a message flashed from Diljit Paaji saying, ‘Paaji, it’s really coming out tonight.’ It felt like pure telepathy. Massive credit goes to ZEE for pulling this off; I have nothing but monumental respect for how they championed this.”

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About Satluj

After a 3-year long censorship battle, Satluj had finally premiered on ZEE5 without any cuts, with only the film title being changed from Punjab ’95 to Satluj. The theatrical release in India was paused by the Censor Board, demanding 127 cuts, which included film’s title change and removing the references to Punjab.

Satluj is based on the suspicious disappearance of Jaswant Singh Khalra, who was vocal about the extrajudicial killings and cremation of over 25,000 people in Punjab, in the 1990s. The film has co-produced by RSVP Movies and Honey and Abhishek Chaubey’s production house Macguffin Pictures. Apart Diljit Dosanjh, it also stars Arjun Rampal, Suvinder Vicky, and Geetika Vidya Ohlyan.