The fate of Honey Trehan’s second directorial venture, Punjab ’95, continues to hang in the balance. The film tells the story of human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, who attempted to uncover the disappearance and killing of Sikh youth during insurgency in Panjab between 1984 and 1994. The Panjab police abducted Khalra and killed him. In 2007, the Punjab and Haryana High Court upheld convictions of the five officers involved, enhancing all sentences to life imprisonment. In 2011, India's Supreme Court upheld the convictions and sentences. The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) asked for 85 cuts. With the cuts, the Diljit Dosanjh-starrer was screened for the CBFC on 14 Jul. Despite the cuts, the CBFC has yet to greenlight its release. This is not the filmmakers’ first run-in with the Censor Board. In December 2022, Trehan’s movie – then titled Ghallughara (genocide) – was screened for certification. The process reportedly took six months, with the CBFC asking for 21 cuts and a title change. Ronnie Screwvala’s production house had appealed against the decision in the Bombay High Court. As a result, the film, also starring Arjun Rampal and Suvinder Vicky, was pulled from the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival’s line-up. It coincided with Canadian PM Justin Trudeau accusing India of killing Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Even as cuts have quadrupled from the CBFC’s 2022 ask and uncertainty looms over the release, a cast member says the makers are bullish about it reaching its audience. ‘The film might be butchered, but the team will ensure its release. Right now, we are fighting for its existence’ (SDW Vol. 1 Issue 12, Story 10).
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