How Satluj reached OTT, director Honey Trehan remembered the fight before its release
Director Honey Trehan said Sutlej reached ZEE5 after months of delays, court efforts and a tightly guarded release plan. Trehan also revealed the struggle behind releasing the film directly on OTT.
Diljit Dosanjh’s surprise release Satluj It may surprise viewers on ZEE5, but director Honey Trehan has revealed that it was not easy to bring the film to streaming. After months of uncertainty, repeated delays and an exhausting battle to secure the release, the team decided to keep the OTT premiere a secret until the last moment.
in an interview with Hollywood Reporter IndiaTrehan talked about the efforts behind the scenes and said that only a few people knew that the film was finally ready to premiere. “There was massive back-and-forth operations going on behind closed doors between RSVP and Zee,” he said, admitting that he had almost lost hope that the film would ever see the light of day. “Even at 6 p.m. on Friday, I messaged the team asking, ‘Is this really happening tonight?'”
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The director revealed that, apart from RSVP and Zee’s core corporate teams, Dosanjh was the only person who was aware of the release plan. Recalling the moment before the film went off air, Trehan said that he had sent an anxious message to RSVP when he received a message from Diljit, saying, “scurvyIt’s really coming out tonight.” Calling it “pure telepathy”, Trehan credited the streaming giant for making the release possible and said he has “nothing but respect” for the platform’s efforts.
Trehan also explained why the makers ultimately opted for a direct-to-digital release. He said the team spent several months waiting for clarity but received no meaningful response despite several attempts. “We finally approached the court, but there was no change,” he said. It was then that producer Ronnie Screwvala and ZEE decided to release the film on OTT, where a theatrical CBFC certificate was not mandatory.
According to Trehan, ZEE believed in the project from the beginning and ultimately “adopted an abandoned child” by ensuring it reached the audience.
Even after the release was confirmed, Trehan admitted that due to the film’s difficult journey he was having difficulty believing that it would actually happen. “I had trained myself to believe, ‘I’ll celebrate it only when it actually comes on the screen.’ That was my psychological defense mechanism,” he said, explaining that he had seen many release plans collapse at the last minute.
Now that Satluj Trehan said that now that it has finally been released, the overwhelming response from audiences across the world has made the long wait worthwhile. “The love and global goodwill that the film has received is overwhelming,” he said, adding that he is constantly receiving messages on his phone from viewers reacting to the film.
The government explained the reason behind the removal of the film
Diljit Dosanjh-starrer Satluj According to government sources, it was removed from ZEE5 just two days after its release, following a government directive citing “security concerns” and obligations under the Information Technology (IT) Rules, 2021. The film, which premiered uncut on the streaming platform on Friday, was removed on Sunday evening.
The film’s removal has sparked widespread reaction, with political parties in Punjab and the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) supporting the film’s release.
A government official said that the manufacturer of Satluj had applied for a certificate with the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) in 2022 under its original title Punjab ’95, but they did not accept the 127 cuts suggested by the censor board and halted its release.
“They sat on the suggested cuts and eventually released the film quietly on OTT with a new title. OTT does not fall under the jurisdiction of the CBFC. When the matter came to the notice of the government, Zee was asked to remove it (the film),” PTI quoted an official source as saying.
Why was it removed from ZEE5?
On Sunday, ZEE5 announced that it has temporarily removed it Satluj from its platform to the audience in India. In an official statement, the streaming platform said that the availability of the film has been “paused” in view of “current developments”. While reiterating its support towards the film and its makers, ZEE5 did not reveal the specific reason behind the decision. Notably, Diljit Dosanjh had predicted that the film might be removed even before it premiered on the platform.
The platform did not clarify whether the removal was linked to the film’s earlier certification issues and only cited ongoing “current developments”. Given the politically sensitive topic, Satluj It had already faced a protracted battle over certification, with producers alleging the demands went beyond routine cuts.
On July 6, ZEE5 released another statement assuring viewers that it was making every possible effort to reinstate the film on the platform. It also appealed to the audience not to resort to piracy until the issue is resolved.
The film also stars Arjun Rampal, Saurabh Sachdeva, Kanwaljeet Singh and Suvinder Vicky in lead roles. The film is produced by Abhishek Chaubey.