'We're doing everything we can': ZEE5 after Satluj disappears and fans pirate the movie

Dubai: ZEE5 has issued a public appeal to viewers not to support piracy, days after Diljit Dosanjh's Satluj was pulled from the platform in India and pirated copies of the film began circulating online within hours. It is the second public statement ZEE5 has made about Satluj in a matter of days, and it comes as the film's abrupt removal has drawn political attention, and an unusual personal endorsement, well beyond its original release.

The streaming platform shared a poster on its official X account reading, "We are doing our bit to bring Satluj back. Please do yours, don't support piracy." A caption on the same post added that the platform remained "hopeful and doing everything we can" to restore the film, and that it was committed to exploring every possible avenue to bring it back to viewers.

This was not ZEE5's first public comment on Satluj this week. When the film was pulled from its Indian catalogue on Sunday evening, the platform posted a separate note thanking subscribers for what it called a "truly overwhelming" response, adding that it would "stand firmly by Satluj and the creative vision behind it." That statement stopped short of explaining the removal itself, citing only unspecified "current developments" and confirming the film would be "unavailable in India until further notice" while ZEE5 explored ways to restore it through due process.

Co-producer RSVP Movies was more direct when contacted separately, with a spokesperson simply stating, "The government has pulled it down," while adding that the film would hopefully be streaming again soon. Satluj remains available internationally on ZEE5 Global, even as it stays unavailable to viewers in India.

Streaming titles in India do not go through the Central Board of Film Certification the way theatrical releases do. Instead, platforms are expected to follow a self-censorship code that makes the platform itself liable if a title is later deemed controversial, rather than the board. It is a framework that lets a completed, uncut film reach viewers one day and disappear the next, without the kind of formal, on the record order that would typically accompany a cinema ban, and it is part of why the response to Satluj's removal has landed on ZEE5's doorstep rather than a censor's.

Satluj, released under its original title Punjab '95, had been stuck in a censorship battle since 2022 before finally reaching ZEE5 on Friday, July 3. India's Central Board of Film Certification had asked for 127 cuts, including changes to the title and the removal of direct references to Punjab, before its theatrical release was shelved altogether. A planned premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2023 was also called off, reportedly after Indian authorities raised objections, adding to a run of setbacks that predates even its streaming release.

The film is based on the real life disappearance of human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, who investigated the alleged extrajudicial killings and illegal cremation of thousands of unidentified bodies during the militancy years in Punjab. Khalra was abducted in September 1995, and a subsequent Central Bureau of Investigation probe found that a Punjab police unit had held him without charge before killing him the following month, with a small number of officers eventually convicted. Diljit plays Khalra in the film, alongside Kanwaljeet Singh, Arjun Rampal, Suvinder Vicky and Geetika Vidya Ohlyan, directed by Honey Trehan.

The film eventually streamed uncut in India, only to be pulled less than 48 hours later. ZEE5's piracy appeal follows separate remarks Diljit made about the removal during his own Instagram Live session, though the actor's comments on that have already been covered in detail elsewhere.

Away from the platform's own statements, the film has drawn a notable endorsement. Paramjit Kaur Khalra, the activist's wife, has said she is pleased and relieved that the film finally reached audiences after years of political obstacles. Writing on X, she said she hoped it would serve as "a fitting tribute to the legacy of Jaswant Singh Khalra" and would inspire audiences around the world.

The piracy ZEE5 is now trying to contain has already spread well beyond India. Punjabi singer Jasbir Jassi has said the film is being shared extensively over WhatsApp among viewers in the United States, claiming some chats have circulated the same download more than a dozen times.

For now, ZEE5 has not given a firm timeline for the film's return. Its message to viewers remains the one it posted this week: it says it is working on bringing Satluj back, and is asking audiences to hold off on pirated versions in the meantime.