‘Punjab ’95’, Diljit Dosanjh film on activist Jaswant Singh Khalra to release globally on Feb 7; no date for India yet

The trailer has been removed from YouTube in India. “The uploader has not made this video available in your country,” reads the YouTube notification on the trailer that got more than 3 lakh views in the last 20 hours.

Dosanjh’s recent meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi had sparked speculation that it could lead to the film being released in India.

On January 11, Dosanjh had posted a story on his Facebook account in which he wrote: “Punjab 95. In February”.

Punjab ’95 is based on the life of human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra. The CBFC had earlier proposed 120 cuts to the film. Khalra had exposed the Punjab Police’s extra-judicial killings of Sikh youth during the militancy in the early 90s. He was kidnapped in 1995 and murdered. Later, six Punjab police officials were convicted for kidnapping and murdering him.

On January 11, Dosanjh had posted a story on his Facebook account in which he wrote: “Punjab 95. In February”. He has also shared stills from the film. In a similar post on Instagram, Dosanjh captioned the photos: “I Challenge the Darkness.”

Khalra’s wife Paramjit Kaur Khalra had condemned the censor board’s demand for 120 cuts, saying the biopic on her husband’s life was made with the family’s consent and should be released without any cuts.

She had said that over four years ago, her family had read the script and granted permission to director Honey Trehan to make the movie with Dosanjh portraying Khalra. The family had also watched the film in 2022 and said it was satisfied with its depiction of the activist’s struggle for human rights during a critical period in Punjab’s history.