Satluj’s Honey Trehan, Diljit Dosanjh top IMDb popular Indian celebs list after film’s takedown

3 min readMumbaiUpdated: Jul 14, 2026 01:07 PM IST

Honey Trehan tops IMDb's list after Satluj ban.

Three days after Honey Trehan’s period investigative thriller Satluj was pulled down from ZEE5 around the world, its director and cast members have found a place in IMDb’s list of Most Popular Indian Celebrities this week. While Trehan tops the list at #1, actors Diljit Dosanjh and Suvinder Vicky have claimed the third and the 11th positions, respectively.

Why is Satluj making waves?

Earlier this month, Indian OTT platform ZEE5 released Satluj across the globe, seemingly ending the three-year censorship battle it’s faced. However, merely two days after the film released on streaming, the Indian government pulled it down within the country, claiming that it bypassed the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), even though the OTT release of a film doesn’t merit CBFC certification in India.

A committee formed by the Centre to review Satluj also claimed that it can serve as “fodder” for “hostile elements” outside India to use it against national interests, which is likely to “threaten” the country’s “security”. Satluj was then subsequently also removed internationally from ZEE5.

Satluj is a biopic of Sikh human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra (played by Dosanjh), who in the late 1990s, exposed over 2,500 extrajudicial killings and cremations in Punjab, with the involvement of the state police. Khalra was eventually abducted and murdered. Suvinder Vicky plays the film’s primary antagonist, a high-ranking officer in Punjab Police.

Diljit, who’s currently staying in the US, hinted that Satluj may not remain available for viewing merely one day after the film dropped on ZEE5. After its ban, the actor asked his fans, who had downloaded the film, to share it extensively to spread the word. Sikh bodies have also been holding public screenings of the film at gurudwaras.

Earlier this year, speaking on SCREEN Spotlight, director Honey Trehan revealed that the CBFC not only demanded 127 cuts from the film, then titled Punjab ’95, but his fellow producer, Ronnie Screwvala of RSVP Movies, was also barred from holding private screenings, premiering the film at the Toronto International Film Festival, and even going to court.

“Those at the CBFC are definitely taking advantage of what they do. They’re misusing their power. They’re trying to please the sitting government so much that they’re trying to control the narrative. Uss poori chakki mein koi na koi toh pis hi raha hai. Not only me, there must be other filmmakers also,” he said.

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Other celebrities on IMDb list

Trailing Trehan on IMDb’s list of most popular Indian celebrities this week is Sharvari, who recently starred in Shiv Rawail’s spy thriller Alpha. Her co-star Alia Bhatt, however, is far below on the 14th spot. Rajkumar Hirani’s JioHotstar show Pritam and Pedro also has several cast members on the list — his son and debutant actor Vir Hirani on #4, Shruti Marathe on #5, Arshad Warsi on #7, and the chief antagonist, Vikrant Massey on #12. Since Ashish R Mohan’s family comedy Daadi Ki Shaadi also dropped on Netflix India recently, actors Sadia Khateeb and R Sarathkumar are also trending on the #8 and the #13 positions respectively.