In Punjab, covert screenings of banned film revive painful memories of militancy era
In villages across Punjab, the banned film 'Satluj' is being shown at mass screenings, drawing crowds who recall the state's dark period of militancy in the 1980s and 1990s. The movie, which focuses on human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, was briefly released on an OTT platform before being blocked in India by a central government committee that said it could threaten national security.
At a screening in Jangpur village near Ludhiana on Thursday evening, around 100 people gathered on a vacant plot next to a gurdwara. They watched the film on an 85-inch screen. Organisers said they paid a local DJ 5,000 rupees for a downloaded copy. Similar screenings have been held across the state, organised by gurdwaras, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), and political parties including the Akali Dal and the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
Many viewers said the film had forced them to revisit traumatic memories. Gurdev Kaur, a woman in her 70s, left the screening after an hour, saying she could not bear to watch more. 'We don't want those days to return. They were extremely difficult,' she told reporters. Jaswant Singh, a 61-year-old former Army soldier who moved his family to West Bengal during the militancy, said the screenings were not a sign of a new movement. 'Don't mistake this for a movement. It's just an attempt to revisit our painful past,' he said.
The film's ban has actually increased public interest, according to Navkiran Kaur Khalra, the activist's daughter. 'Ironically, the attempt to stop the film has drawn more attention to it. People are now reading about that period, discussing it and asking questions,' she said. 'Khalra has haunted the system for three decades because the issues he raised have never been fully addressed.'
Some attendees acknowledged the political context. Jaswant Singh noted that with elections approaching, the timing of the screenings was convenient for parties. 'It's all politics and vested interests, and people understand this,' he said. The screenings have been organised by factions of the Akali Dal, including a splinter group linked to jailed MP Amritpal Singh, as well as the AAP. In one AAP screening near Ludhiana, the film was shown on a mobile phone projected onto a van.
The Inter-Departmental Committee that reviewed 'Satluj' had recommended that the movie remain blocked, citing potential threats to state security. The film dramatises the story of Jaswant Singh Khalra, who investigated extrajudicial killings in Punjab during the militancy and was abducted and murdered in 1995. His family has long demanded a judicial inquiry into state-sponsored human rights abuses.
