Why Diljit Dosanjh’s Satluj is as much about Punjabi poetry as it is about Jaswant Singh Khalra

Diljit Dosanj in a still from Satluj.

6 min readNew DelhiJul 18, 2026 02:20 PM IST

First published on: Jul 18, 2026 at 02:15 PM IST

Hanera na soche ki chaanan dar gaya hai/ Raat na soche ki suraj mar gya hai/ Baal jyotaan zindagi de maan mattiyan/ Uth jagaa de mombattiyaan (Let the darkness never believe that the moon is scared/ The night should never think the sun has died/ Light up the flame to honour life/ Get up and light the candles).

Moments before Jaswant Singh Khalra (played by Diljit Dosanjh), in Honey Trehan’s Satluj, is shot dead and dumped into the Harike wetland, the human rights activist investigating extrajudicial killings and disappearances during Punjab’s insurgency, shares a conversation in his jail cell with Kuljeet Singh — a character based on real-life Special Police Officer (SPO) Kuldeep Singh. Uncomfortable with the torture Khalra was subjected to, Singh would secretly give him food while keeping watch.