Satluj film on Punjab crackdown draws crowds in India after online takedown

A film about India's bloody crackdown in Punjab in the 1980s and 1990s is drawing crowds at informal screenings after it was taken down from online platforms within 48 hours of release.

"Satluj" tells the story of Jaswant Singh Khalra, a rights activist allegedly tortured and killed by police in 1995 after investigating thousands of disappearances and presumed extrajudicial killings during the unrest in Punjab.

A crowd gathered at a Sikh temple in Gurdaspur district to watch the film, even as officials accused director Honey Trehan of distorting history. Authorities had not officially announced action against the film or its distribution, but a rumoured ban has angered some viewers and increased interest in screenings.

Inderpal Singh Bains, a farmer leader behind the Gurdaspur event, said organisers were holding at least five screenings each evening and had a long waitlist from villages still seeking one.

Punjab was a violent battleground in the 1980s and early 1990s between Indian authorities and armed supporters of Khalistan, a separatist movement seeking an independent Sikh homeland. Rights groups say thousands of civilians, police and militants were killed during the conflict.

Ravneet Singh Bittu, a member of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, criticised the film and said it presented disputed claims as established history. Trehan told AFP that the film "depicted the truth" and cited speeches by Khalra referring to 25,000 people being abducted and killed.