Community Screenings Help Censored Film on Indian Insurgency Circulate Despite Government Ban GURDASPUR, India — As twilight settled over the fields of Gurdaspur, villagers gathered in the courtyard of a Sikh temple to watch a film that had been blocked by Indian authorities. The movie, titled Satluj, recounts the true story of human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, who investigated thousands of disappearances and extrajudicial killings during a government crackdown on a separatist insurgency in Punjab during the 1980s and early 1990s. The screening, attended by elderly survivors of the conflict and younger generations born after its end, marked a quiet defiance against censorship. The film, originally named Punjab 95, faced a three-year delay after India’s censor board demanded over 120 cuts. Despite efforts to secure a theatrical release, it premiered on the ZEE5 streaming platform last week but was swiftly removed from Indian platforms two days later. The takedown sparked an unintended consequence: grassroots screenings organized by Sikh groups, activists, and residents. These events transformed temple courtyards and village halls into makeshift cinemas, where audiences watched not just a film but a collective retelling of Punjab’s most violent chapter. The insurgency, which pitted Sikh separatist groups seeking independence for Khalistan against Indian security forces, claimed thousands of civilian, militant, and police lives. Rights groups documented allegations of enforced disappearances, custodial killings, and secret cremations. Khalra’s investigation alleged that thousands of missing persons were cremated anonymously by police without notifying families or maintaining records. Khalra himself was abducted in 1995 and later killed, with several police officers convicted in connection with his murder.#narendra_modi #jaswant_singh_khalra #zEE5 #gurdaspur #sikh_temple
